Suleman Atique

Benzodiazepine Use and Risk of Dementia in the Elderly Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Benzodiazepines are a widely used medication in developed countries, particularly among elderly patients. However, benzodiazepines are known to affect memory and cognition and might thus enhance the risk of dementia. The objective of this review is to synthesize evidence from observational studies that evaluated the association between benzodiazepines use and dementia risk. Summary: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled observational studies to evaluate the risk of benzodiazepines use on dementia outcome. All control observational studies that compared dementia outcome in patients with benzodiazepine use with a control group were included. We calculated pooled ORs using a random-effects model. Ten studies (of 3,696 studies identified) were included in the systematic review, of which 8 studies were included in random-effects meta-analysis and sensitivity analyses. Odds of dementia were 78% higher in those who used benzodiazepines compared with those who did not use benzodiazepines (OR 1.78; 95% CI 1.33-2.38). In subgroup analysis, the higher association was still found in the studies from Asia (OR 2.40; 95% CI 1.66-3.47) whereas a moderate association was observed in the studies from North America and Europe (OR 1.49; 95% CI 1.34-1.65 and OR 1.43; 95% CI 1.16-1.75). Also, diabetics, hypertension, cardiac disease, and statin drugs were associated with increased risk of dementia but negative association was observed in the case of body mass index. There was significant statistical and clinical heterogeneity among studies for the main analysis and most of the sensitivity analyses. There was significant statistical and clinical heterogeneity among the studies for the main analysis and most of the sensitivity analyses. Key Messages: Our results suggest that benzodiazepine use is significantly associated with dementia risk. However, observational studies cannot clarify whether the observed epidemiologic association is a causal effect or the result of some unmeasured confounding variable. Therefore, more research is needed.

Burden of musculoskeletal disorders in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 1990-2013: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

Objectives We used findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 to report the burden of musculoskeletal disorders in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). Methods The burden of musculoskeletal disorders was calculated for the EMRs 22 countries between 1990 and 2013. A systematic analysis was performed on mortality and morbidity data to estimate prevalence, death, years of live lost, years lived with disability and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Results For musculoskeletal disorders, the crude DALYs rate per 100 000 increased from 1297.1 (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 924.3–1703.4) in 1990 to 1606.0 (95% UI 1141.2–2130.4) in 2013. During 1990–2013, the total DALYs of musculoskeletal disorders increased by 105.2% in the EMR compared with a 58.0% increase in the rest of the world. The burden of musculoskeletal disorders as a proportion of total DALYs increased from 2.4% (95% UI 1.7–3.0) in 1990 to 4.7% (95% UI 3.6–5.8) in 2013. The range of point prevalence (per 1000) among the EMR countries was 28.2–136.0 for low back pain, 27.3–49.7 for neck pain, 9.7–37.3 for osteoarthritis (OA), 0.6–2.2 for rheumatoid arthritis and 0.1–0.8 for gout. Low back pain and neck pain had the highest burden in EMR countries. Conclusions This study shows a high burden of musculoskeletal disorders, with a faster increase in EMR compared with the rest of the world. The reasons for this faster increase need to be explored. Our findings call for incorporating prevention and control programmes that should include improving health data, addressing risk factors, providing evidence-based care and community programmes to increase awareness.

Determinants and development of a web-based child mortality prediction model in resource-limited settings

BACKGROUND Improving child health and reducing child mortality rate are key health priorities in developing countries. This study aimed to identify determinant sand develop, a web-based child mortality prediction model in Ethiopian local language using classification data mining algorithm. METHODS Decision tree (using J48 algorithm) and rule induction (using PART algorithm) techniques were applied on 11,654 records of Ethiopian demographic and health survey data. Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) for windows version 3.6.8 was used to develop optimal models. 8157 (70%) records were randomly allocated to training group for model building while; the remaining 3496 (30%) records were allocated as the test group for model validation. The validation of the model was assessed using accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and area under Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve. Using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0; logistic regressions and Odds Ratio (OR) with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) was used to identify determinants of child mortality. RESULTS The child mortality rate was 72 deaths per 1000 live births. Breast-feeding (AOR= 1.46, (95% CI [1.22. 1.75]), maternal education (AOR= 1.40, 95% CI [1.11, 1.81]), family planning (AOR= 1.21, [1.08, 1.43]), preceding birth interval (AOR= 4.90, [2.94, 8.15]), presence of diarrhea (AOR= 1.54, 95% CI [1.32, 1.66]), fathers education (AOR= 1.4, 95% CI [1.04, 1.78]), low birth weight (AOR= 1.2, 95% CI [0.98, 1.51]) and, age of the mother at first birth (AOR= 1.42, [1.01-1.89]) were found to be determinants for child mortality. The J48 model had better performance, accuracy (94.3%), sensitivity (93.8%), specificity (94.3%), Positive Predictive Value (PPV) (92.2%), Negative Predictive Value (NPV) (94.5%) and, the area under ROC (94.8%). Subsequent to developing an optimal prediction model, we relied on this model to develop a web-based application system for child mortality prediction. CONCLUSION In this study, nearly accurate results were obtained by employing decision tree and rule induction techniques. Determinants are identified and a web-based child mortality prediction model in Ethiopian local language is developed. Thus, the result obtained could support child health intervention programs in Ethiopia where trained human resource for health is limited. Advanced classification algorithms need to be tested to come up with optimal models.

Viral warts (Human Papilloma Virus) as a potential risk for breast cancer among younger females

INTRODUCTION There have been several reports on the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the etiology of breast cancer. To our knowledge, this is first study to use disease-disease association data-mining approach to analyzing viral warts and breast cancer to be conducted in Taiwanese population. MATERIALS AND METHODS We analyzed the Taiwans National Health Insurance database (NHIDM data comprising of 23 million patient data) to examine the association between viral warts and female breast carcinoma. The patients were categorized into three groups: breast cancer only, viral warts only, and those with both breast cancer and viral warts. The Cox proportion hazard regression analysis was used to measure the effect of HPV on the time to breast cancer diagnosis. Multivariable analyzes and stratified analyzes using hazard ratios (HRs) were presented with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) after adjusting for age, and CCI. RESULT Among 807,578 HPV population, we identified 6014 breast cancer cases. The HPV group was associated with a significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.15-1.21; p< 0.001) compared with the non-HPV group. HPV patients with age group 18-39 was slightly higher risk of breast cancer occurrence (HR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.01-1.13; p<.05). The risk of breast cancer in 10-year incidence was 7% higher for females less than 40 years and 23% for over 40 years patients when compared with non-HPV patients of the same age group. CONCLUSION Our study indicates that women who develop viral warts are at a significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who have not diagnosed with viral warts. Thus, the presence of viral warts is a potential risk to breast cancer. Therefore, we suggest patients diagnosed with viral warts may get early screening for breast cancer.

The concomitant association of thyroid disorders and Myasthenia gravis

Abstract Background Some of the thyroid disorders (TD) and Myasthenia gravis (MG) are autoimmune related disease. The purpose of the study to evaluate the relationship of MG with all morphological and functional thyroid disorders. Methods: We constructed a population-based cohort study during the period from January 2000-December 2002 by using reimbursement data from the Bureau National Health Insurance (NHI) system in Taiwan. Patients with TD and MG were identified by referring to the ICD-9-CM codes. (ICD-10-CM as reference) .The association of TD with MG occurred only in the same person within the study period. The Q value was used to measure the strength of disease-disease associations. Results We obtained 520628 TD and 7965 MG records for analysis. Diffuse toxic goiter had highest association rate, followed by nontoxic nodular goiter, simple goiter, chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, thyroid cancer, and toxic nodular goiter. Female and older patients had a higher rate than their male and younger counterparts, respectively. Functional abnormalities revealed higher incidence of thyrotoxicosis and hypothyroidism in both sexes. We also found the strongest association in men with chronic thyroiditis, diffuse toxic goiter, thyrotoxicosis, acquired hypothyroidism, thyroid cancer, and simple goiter. While an intermediate association was observed in female with diffuse toxic goiter, in a male with toxic and nontoxic nodular/multinodular goiters, in female with thyrotoxicosis, thyroid cancer and acquired hypothyroidism. Conclusion This population based cohort study showed potential association of all types of TD with MG, and observed a higher association rate in female autoimmune TD whereas males showed a higher strength of association.

Benzodiazepines use and breast cancer risk: A population-based study and gene expression profiling evidence

The aim of this study was to investigate whether long-term use of Benzodiazepines (BZDs) is associated with breast cancer risk through the combination of population-based observational and gene expression profiling evidence. We conducted a population-based case-control study by using 1998 to 2009year Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database and investigated the association between BZDs use and breast cancer risk. We selected subjects age of >20years old and six eligible controls matched for age, sex and the index date (i.e., free of any cancer at the case diagnosis date) by using propensity scores. A bioinformatics analysis approach was also performed for the identification of oncogenesis effects of BZDs on breast cancer. We used breast cancer gene expression data from the Cancer Genome Atlas and perturbagen signatures of BZDs from the Library of Integrated Cellular Signatures database in order to identify the oncogenesis effects of BZDs on breast cancer. We found evidence of increased breast cancer risk for diazepam (OR, 1.16; 95%CI, 0.95-1.42; connectivity score [CS], 0.3016), zolpidem (OR, 1.11; 95%CI, 0.95-1.30; CS, 0.2738), but not for lorazepam (OR, 1.04; 95%CI, 0.89-1.23; CS, -0.2952) consistently in both methods. The finding for alparazolam was contradictory from the two methods. Diazepam and zolpidem trends showed association, although not statistically significant, with breast cancer risk in both epidemiological and bioinformatics analyses outcomes. The methodological value of our study is in introducing the way of combining epidemiological and bioinformatics approaches in order to answer a common scientific question. Combining the two approaches would be a substantial step towards uncovering, validation and further application of previously unknown scientific knowledge to the emerging field of precision medicine informatics.

A Commentary on Telerehabilitation Services in Pakistan: Current Trends and Future Possibilities

A 2014 World Health Organization (WHO) study reported that almost 27 million people with disability live in Pakistan with fewer than one allied rehabilitation professional per 10,000 people. The current study sought to determine the attitudes toward telerehabilitation via a survey administered to 329 Pakistani rehabilitation professionals. Study results indicate that rehabilitation professionals in Pakistan are knowledgeable about telerehabilitation and Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and are receptive to employing telerehabilitation programs and applications. Therefore, we can infer that the future of telerehabilitation can be bright in Pakistan but requires the attention of policy makers and non-government organizations to launch an appropriate program nationwide. The authors suggest that a range of telerehabilitation services (e.g., consultation, assessment, and therapy) could alleviate the shortage of rehabilitation personnel in Pakistan.

Organizational benefits of Computerized Physican Order Entry (CPOE) system in Pakistan

Electronic prescribing i.e. e-prescribing is also known as Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE). It is a computer-aided system which offers the health professionals a robust platform for entering the prescription, recommended-tests, suggestions, etc. for the patients electronically rather than manually. Due to paucity of below- normal healthcare infrastructure and facilities in Pakistan which are available around the world in this modern world, there is an observable overburden on the health professionals and practitioners. Computerized Physician order entry (CPOE) system has shown to be very effective in minimizing the medication errors. Majority of the health professionals are of the view that CPOE is beneficial for both patient as well as health professionals themselves. They have shown a great deal of interest in the adoption of this new technology oriented system in our healthcare system. The results state clearly that this system is equally beneficial for organizations who want to adopt this system as perceived by the health professionals. Overall it supports the idea of adoption and implementation of CPOE in healthcare facilities in both public and private healthcare institutes. CPOE must be adopted to ease the healthcare system for patients as well as support healthcare professionals.

The impact of different surgical procedures on hypoparathyroidism after thyroidectomy: A population-based study

Abstract The main objective of this study is to investigate the outcome between surgical procedures and the risk of development of hypoparathyroidism followed by surgical procedure in patients with thyroid disorders. We analyzed the data acquired from Taiwans Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) research database from 1998 to 2011 and found 9316 patients with thyroid surgery. Cox regression model was used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR). A count of 314 cases (3.4%) of hypoparathyroidism was identified. The 9 years cumulated incidence of hypoparathyroidism was the highest in patient undergone bilateral total thyroidectomy (13.5%) and the lowest in the patient with unilateral subtotal thyroidectomy (1.2%). However, in the patients who had undergone unilateral subtotal, the risk was the highest in bilateral total (HR: 11.86), followed by radical thyroidectomy with unilateral neck lymph node dissection (HR: 8.56), unilateral total (HR, 4.39), and one side total and another side subtotal (HR: 2.80). The extent of thyroid resection determined the risk of development of hypoparathyroidism. It is suggested that the association of these factors is investigated in future studies.

Contents Vol. 47, 2016

125 New Zealand Applied Neurosciences Conference Auckland, New Zealand, November 24–26, 2016 Editors: Feigin, V.L.; Barber, P.A. (Auckland)