Prolonged Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in a Military Service Member Exposed to Mefloquine

Sleep quality of service members and veterans with and without reports of dizziness

BackgroundMilitary duty may place Service members and Veterans at an increased risk of experiencing dizziness. Individuals with dizziness report poor sleep quality as well as abnormal sleep duration, which is associated with increased risk of falling and worse quality of life. The overall pooled prevalence of poor sleep quality in Service members and Veterans was 69%, but it is not known if Service members and Veterans with self-reported dizziness report poorer sleep quality than their counterparts without dizziness.ObjectiveThe purpose of this research study was to evaluate the sleep quality of Service members and Veterans with and without reports of dizziness.MethodsDescriptive statistics were used to explore the prevalence of self-reported dizziness among Service members and Veterans by demographic characteristics. Descriptive statistics were also used to describe the prevalence of participants' dizziness symptoms and the mean age participants first noticed dizziness. Models (unadjusted and adjusted) were created by regressing sleep disorders and daytime sleepiness on dizziness frequency. Potential confounders were chosen a priori through a theoretical framework. Military status (Service member vs Veteran) was explored as an interaction term. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated, with statistical significance determined by the 95% CI.ResultsDizziness was reported by 22.4% of Service members (n = 171 of 763) and 31.7% of Veterans (n = 241 of 761). Service members and Veterans with dizziness were 1.7 times more likely to have a sleep disorder than Service members and Veterans without dizziness.ConclusionsService members and Veterans with dizziness were more likely to have poor sleep quality than those without dizziness. Medical providers should screen for sleep disturbances, evaluate for obstructive sleep apnea, treat chronic insomnia disorder, and consider referral for vestibular rehabilitation in Service members and Veterans presenting with dizziness.

A Cross-sectional Cohort Study to Assess Long-term Neurocognitive and Psychiatric Symptoms of Mefloquine Use in Veterans

INTRODUCTION

To evaluate the associations between neurocognitive and psychiatric health outcomes with mefloquine or any antimalarial exposure.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Medical records were systematically reviewed to identify veterans that indicated antimalarial medication use. Linear regression was performed to examine associations between mefloquine/antimalarial exposure and health outcomes. The mefloquine-exposed group was further compared with normative populations for the same health outcomes.

RESULTS

In the adjusted models, no significant differences were noted between the two exposure groups and the unexposed group for any of the health measures (P-value > 0.05). When compared to normative population samples, the mefloquine-exposed group had poorer health and greater neurobehavioral symptom severity or cognitive complaints.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests that mefloquine use by veterans referred for intensive evaluation of their military deployment exposures and health was not associated with increased, long-term, neurocognitive/psychiatric symptoms compared to unexposed veterans.

Sleep and PTSD in the Military Forces: A Reciprocal Relationship and a Psychiatric Approach

Sleep disturbances are well-recognised symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This review updates knowledge regarding the relationship between sleep during deployment, combat-related trauma, and PTSD in military personnel, from which the importance of restorative sleep results. The description of the characteristics of sleep in military forces with the considerable roles of the operational and training contexts highlights the important consequences of degraded sleep. Indeed, a lot of data suggest a dynamic link between sleep and the onset and chronicity of PTSD. We propose a reciprocal relationship model with strategies strongly recommended or already adopted by the military to promote restorative sleep before and after combat exposure. Among the alterations in a variety of sleep architecture and sleep patterns described in PTSD, the physiological hypothesis of REM sleep fragmentation in the development of PTSD symptoms may be important because REM sleep is generally associated with emotional memory. Finally, we address clinical and research perspectives that could be used to detect or restore sleep continuity before and during military deployment to possibly alleviate nightmares and insomnia related to combat exposure and PTSD occurrence and improve our understanding of sleep in PTSD.

A serious nightmare: psychiatric and neurologic adverse reactions to mefloquine are serious adverse reactions

Mefloquine (originally marketed as Lariam) is a neurotoxic quinoline derivative antimalarial drug that is known to cause serious and potentially lasting neuropsychiatric adverse reactions. Since 2013, drug regulators in several jurisdictions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada, have required their mefloquine labels be updated to warn that when used for malaria prophylaxis the drug should be discontinued at the onset of neurologic or psychiatric symptoms. These recent changes to the international labeling serve to imply that psychiatric and neurologic reactions to mefloquine prophylaxis may be an early warning of an impending more serious reaction that may further jeopardize the patient with continued use of the drug. To prevent these more serious effects, these drug labels now warn that mefloquine should be discontinued and that patients seek immediate medical intervention to obtain an alternative antimalarial drug when psychiatric or neurologic symptoms occur. When used correctly for malaria prophylaxis as the updated labeling now directs, it is reasonable to expect that mefloquine will be discontinued, and an alternative drug substituted, in each patient who develops psychiatric or neurologic symptoms. This opinion discusses the implications of this updated labeling for the reporting of adverse reactions and for the continued use of the drug in malaria prophylaxis.

Identification of a Syndrome Class of Neuropsychiatric Adverse Reactions to Mefloquine from Latent Class Modeling of FDA Adverse Event Reporting System Data

Introduction

Although mefloquine use is known to be associated with a risk of severe neuropsychiatric adverse reactions that are often preceded by prodromal symptoms, specific combinations of neurologic or psychiatric reactions associated with mefloquine use are not well described in the literature. This study sought to identify a distinct neuropsychiatric syndrome class associated with mefloquine use in reports of adverse events.

Methods

Latent class modeling of US Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) data was performed using indicators defined by the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities neurologic and psychiatric high-level group terms, in a study dataset of FAERS reports (n = 5332) of reactions to common antimalarial drugs.

Results

A distinct neuropsychiatric syndrome class was identified that was strongly and significantly associated with reports of mefloquine use (odds ratio = 3.92, 95% confidence interval 2.91–5.28), defined by a very high probability of symptoms of deliria (82.7%) including confusion and disorientation, and a moderate probability of other severe psychiatric and neurologic symptoms including dementia and amnesia (18.6%) and seizures (18.1%). The syndrome class was also associated with symptoms that are considered prodromal including anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, and abnormal dreams, and neurological symptoms such as dizziness, vertigo, and paresthesias.

Conclusions

This study confirms in FAERS reports the existence of a severe mefloquine neuropsychiatric syndrome class associated with common symptoms that may be considered prodromal. Clinical identification of the characteristic symptoms of this syndrome class may aid in improving case finding in pharmacovigilance studies of more serious adverse reactions to the drug.

Psychomotor Agitation Following Treatment with Hydroxychloroquine

We describe the case of an elderly woman with elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis, where the use of 4 mg/kg/day of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was followed by the onset of psychomotor agitation with marked physical and verbal violence towards her partner, including throwing objects at her partner. No disturbance in sleep and no anxiety, nervousness, or irritability had emerged before the onset of her psychomotor agitation. The disappearance of agitation following targeted pharmacologic intervention and HCQ interruption, its re-onset after reintroduction of the drug, and the high score (9) of Naranjo’s algorithm are surely linked to the existence of a causal relationship between HCQ and psychomotor agitation. HCQ may produce undesirable effects on the central nervous system, mainly irritability, nervousness, emotional changes, and nightmares. To the best of our knowledge, there are only a few case reports of psychosis due to HCQ. No favoring condition such as pharmacokinetic interactions or a personal and family psychiatric history was present in our patient. The neuropsychiatric manifestations we observed could be considered a bizarre-type adverse drug reaction linked to an individual’s hypersensitivity.