Kelly Davio

The Global Burden of Disease Study has ranked low back pain as a leading cause of disability worldwide, and the Lancet Low Back Pain Series Working Group has recommended that researchers and policy makers develop and implement strategies to identify and educate patients with low back pain who are at risk of persistence of pain and disability.

The Commonwealth Fund, together with The New York Times and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has published a new paper on the experiences of Americans with serious illnesses. The found that the healthcare system adds to patients’ burden of illness, and paying for care can be financially challenging or even ruinous for millions of patients.

The FDA has approved a new sublingual formulation of sufentanil, Dsuvia, for the management of acute pain in adults in medically supervised healthcare settings, such as hospitals, surgical centers, and emergency departments. The drug is supplied in a 30 microgram tablet in a single-dose, prefilled applicator for administration by a healthcare professional, and it will not be available in retail pharmacies or for outpatient use.

Over the past several decades, the number of patients who survive head and neck cancer (HNC) has increased; among the more than 15 million cancer survivors in the United States, approximately 430,000 (3%) are survivors of HNC. These survivors may face persistent and late effects of their diagnosis and treatment that increase psychological morbidity, including suicidal ideation.

Guidelines indicate that high-risk patients with polycythemia vera (PV) should be treated with phlebotomy and cytoreductive therapy—such as hydroxyurea or interferon-alfa—to reduce the risk of thrombosis, the major cause of death among patients with PV. To assess the effectiveness of these treatment modalities among older US adults with PV, the authors of a newly published paper evaluated a large cohort of patients with PV in the real-world setting.

While the emergence of new antirheumatic agents—including biologics—has revolutionized the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), these drugs come a high cost to the healthcare system. Furthermore, many patients who receive these drugs may not respond to therapy, thereby increasing costs without improving outcomes.

A recently published cohort study with a register-based follow-up of some individuals from the Danish general population sought to investigate whether smokers are at an increased risk for developing MPNs versus those who have never smoked.

AJMC®TV interviews let you catch up on what’s new and important about changes in healthcare, with insights from key decision makers—from the clinician, to the health plan leader, to the regulator. When every minute in your day matters,AJMC®TV interviews keep you informed. Access the video clips at ajmc.com/interviews.

Medicare beneficiaries who live in housing that offers supportive social services use the hospital less than seniors who live in the same neighborhoods in housing without such amenities.

Myeloproliferative neoplasms have varied progression rates, and a complex genetic landscape may contribute to heterogeneity in the outcomes of patients with these diseases.

In order to address disparities, say the authors, it will be key to maintain policies associated with better outcomes for low-income communities, such as the expansion of Medicaid, that could provide access to affordable cancer care.

A recent paper sought to address the knowledge gap in the literature with respect to the effects of cardiovascular events and thromboembolic events on healthcare cost associated with patients with polycythemia vera receiving hydroxyurea.

In the United States, an estimated 40% to 75% of women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, and an estimated 36% of women have experienced sexual assault. At the same time as lawmakers are addressing sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, 2 new papers, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, highlight the prevalence and health impacts that harassment and assault can have.

A recent open-label, single-arm, phase 2 study sought to assess evaluate an alternative dosing regimen for adults myelofibrosis (MF) to assess whether such a regimen could mitigate anemia.

Black and Latino individuals are less likely than their white peers to develop early-onset atrial fibrillation (EOAF), yet these individuals experience higher rates of stroke, heart failure, and mortality from AF than do white patients. To date, little has been known about this paradox, as most research into EOAF focuses on white patients.

The ongoing REVEAL study, a prospective observational study of US patients with the myeloproliferative neoplasm polycythemia vera (PV), is designed to gather data on disease burden, clinical management, patient-reported outcomes (PROs), and healthcare resource utilization of this patient population.

While it is well understood that psychological distress is a major side effect of cancer and its treatment, and that stress can have a strong impact on patients’ quality of life, a new study indicated that stress is linked with markers of more advanced disease in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common form of leukemia among adults.

While the pathogenesis of autoimmune myelofibrosis is not completely understood, in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, it may be triggered by circulating immune complexes that induce megakaryocytes to release platelet-derived growth factor.

Researchers from the University of Utah explain that patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were more than twice as likely to develop early-onset Parkinson disease or a related basal ganglia and cerebellum disease than peers who do not have ADHD. Among patients with more severe disease who are prescribed stimulant medications to control their ADHD, the risk was 6- to 8-fold higher.

According to treatment recommendations from the European LeukemiaNet and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, patients with high-risk polycythemia vera (PV) should receive cytoreductive medication together with standard treatments for low-risk PV: phlebotomy and low-dose aspirin.

While funders and researchers have long held that clinical trials should enroll more diverse patients to better reflect the populations in which approved drugs will eventually be used, patient populations enrolled in clinical trials remain largely homogenous.

The COMBI study, a prospective, open‐label, single‐arm phase 2 study ongoing in Denmark, is investigating the feasibility of treating patients with low- to intermediate-risk myelofibrosis or polycythemia vera with low-dose pegylated interferon alfa-2 in combination with ruxolitinib.

The Senate has passed a spending bill with a bipartisan amendment, sponsored by Senators Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, that will provide HHS with $1 million in funds to issue regulations on direct-to-consumer advertising. The regulations will require drug makers to include the prices of their products in direct-to-consumer advertisements.

Extramedullary hematopoiesis—the presence of hematopoietic activity in sites outside of the bone marrow—can occur in malignant and non-malignant hematologic diseases, and they may be a complication of primary myelofibrosis.

According to the CDC, understanding disparities in access to care could help identify interventions that would improve access, receipt of necessary services, and care coordination. Such interventions, the report notes, could help improve health-related behaviors, prevent secondary conditions, and delay the progression of disability.

The investigators in a recent study found that prior thrombotic events and leukocytosis were linked to subsequent thrombotic events in general, and prior arterial events and hyperlipidemia were linked with subsequent arterial events.

Pentraxin-3 is known to promote the transition of monocytes to fibrocytes, though little is known about its role in myelofibrosis.

The approval was notable not only for the promise that it offers patients, but also for the strategy by which Alnylam hopes to sell the drug: In order to help payers cope with the $450,000 annual list price of patisiran, Alnylam is working with commercial insurance plans to offer value-based contracts for the therapy.

While Orkambi was already approved to treat patients aged 6 years and older, this week’s approval marks the first time that very young patients, aged 2 to 5 years, have had a therapeutic option available to treat the cause of their cystic fibrosis.