Medical Bulletin 9/May/2023

Here are the top medical news for the day:

Domestic abuse exposure and increased levels of asthma and other atopic diseases linked Study

Published recently in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, the research led by the University of Birmingham found that in analysis of patient records, there were a significantly larger percentage of women who had atopic diseases and had a history of being exposed to domestic abuse and violence compared to those who hadn’t.

Dr Joht Singh Chandan from the University of Birmingham and corresponding author of the study said:

“After adjusting for possible cofounders, our results show women with a recorded exposure to domestic violence and abuse had a 52% increased risk of developing atopic diseases,”

Reference:

Exposure to Domestic Abuse and the Subsequent Development of Atopic Disease in Women, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM,Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice DOI 10.1016/j.jaip.2023.03.016

Immunotherapy plus chemotherapy combination for advanced lung cancer improves and prolongs life

A recent clinical trial showed that the drug combination of cemiplimab plus platinum chemotherapy can prolong survival in patients with advanced lung cancer when compared with placebo plus platinum chemotherapy. Now an analysis published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, indicates that cemiplimab plus platinum chemotherapy also affects quality of life compared to chemotherapy alone.

The multinational phase 3 EMPOWER-Lung 3 trial had shown that the addition of cemiplimab to platinum-based chemotherapy was associated with improved survival in patients with advanced stage non–small cell lung cancer compared to chemotherapy alone. Because quality of life is also an important parameter for treatment benefit, investigators examined how cemiplimab plus platinum affected symptoms in comparison to chemotherapy alone for patients enrolled into this trial using the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-LC13 questionnaires.

Reference:

“Quality of Life With Cemiplimab Plus Chemotherapy for First-Line Treatment of Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Patient-Reported Outcomes From Phase 3 EMPOWER-Lung 3.” Tamta Makharadze, Ruben G. W. Quek, Tamar Melkadze, Miranda Gogishvili, Cristina Ivanescu, Davit Giorgadze, Mikhail Dvorkin, Konstantin Penkov, Konstantin Laktionov, Gia Nemsadze, Marina Nechaeva, Irina Rozhkova, Ewa Kalinka, Christina Gessner, Brizio Moreno-Jaime, Rodolfo Passalacqua, Gerasimos Konidaris, Petra Rietschel, and Giuseppe Gullo. CANCER; Published Online: May 8, 2023 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.34687).

Study links pediatric IBD risk to antibiotics, Western diet and higher family income

Recent study presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2023 has found that children and adolescents face greater risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) when exposed to antibiotics or a Western diet at early ages, or when their family has higher socioeconomic status.

“Pediatric IBD cases are rising globally, and approximately 1 in 4 of all IBD cases are now diagnosed before age 21,” said Nisha Thacker, the study’s lead author and a gastrointestinal dietitian. A unique concern about pediatric IBD is the impact that the inflammation has on a child’s growth and the progression of puberty, so parents should be aware of this condition and the modifiable factors that influence it.

Reference:

DIGESTIVE DISEASE WEEK, MEETING Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2023