Chelsie Derman

On November 15, 2023, the FDA approved Defencath. The new drug can reduce catheter-related bloodstream infections in adults with kidney failure receiving chronic hemodialysis through a central venous catheter.

An artificial intelligence can detect increased fluid in lungs by simply hearing voice changes over time—and the increased fluid in lungs can be a sign of heart failure.

Compared to their usual diet, participants placed in the low sodium diet group—required to keep their sodium intake to 500 mg daily—had their blood pressure reduced by 6 mm Hg.

FDA approved sotaglifozin (INPEFA®) on May 26, 2023, to treat heart failure. Also, a phase 3 trial shows the clinical benefits of the drug by the 3-month mark.

Early control of blood pressure helps lower blood pressure levels in postpartum women and potentially slows the progression of needing treatment for hypertension later down the line.

Participants with heart failure measured lower on physical and mental component scores than patients with lung, colon, breast, or prostate cancer, highlighting their worser health-related quality of life.

The incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy rose from 9.22% in January 2018 to 12.15% in December 2021.

Presented at AAO 2023, Kendra Klein-Mascia, MD, discussed her team’s study, comparing faricimab with aflibercept. The study found 2 injections of faricimab gets rid of 75% of retina fluid by week 8, but for aflibercept, erasing the same amount of fluid takes 3 injections until week 12.

At the end of year 2, 80% of patients on faricimab reached > q12 week dosing, and 63% achieved q16 dosing.

A study followed a neonatal cohort with sickle cell disease for up to 20 years. The study demonstrated how hydroxyurea lowers the risk of high mortality.

Investigators studied factors that could be associated with anemia in children < 5 years old, such as gender, age in years, type of birth (single or multiple), birth order, preceding birth interval in months (<18 months, 18+ months, or 1st born), and fever or no fever in the past 2 weeks (with malaria and without). Other factors related to mother or caregiver characteristics and household characteristics.

Presented at AAO 2023, a study analyzed which race was associated more with having a glaucoma-associated diagnosis, as well as races’ knowledge, attitude, and beliefs about eye care.

Eligibility criteria prevents more Black individuals than White individuals from participating in clinical trials for diabetic macular edema.

Durga S. Borkar, MD, MMCi, presented her study at AAO 2023 which found trial eligibility discriminates against race/ethnicity.

In the PULSAR study, White and Asian participants had similar best corrected visual acuity improvements in the 2 mg aflibercept group.

Presented at AAO 2023, Russell Van Gelder, MD, PhD, discussed Abacus study and how KIO-301 targets low vision and end stage retinitis pigmentosa with visual acuity of light perception.

Two studies presented at AAO demonstrate that low dose atropine is associated with slowing myopia progression, but another study finds that this is not true. Thus, there are mixed results on this relationship.

Patients who are female, in minority groups (particularly, Black or Asian), a visual acuity outside of the <20/40 to 20/200 range, and who are >70 years old receive less treatment.

Aflibercept 8 mg treatment did well with maintaining patients, according to a presentation focusing on the PULSAR study.

ARCHER study demonstrated that the antibody ANX007 was time and dose dependent, robust, and not dependent on lesion growth.

Without treatment, lesions > 500 µm away from the fovea will take anywhere from 3.07 years to 12.9 years to reach it. With pegcetacoplan treatment, the lesion will reach the fovea anywhere between 3.56 years – 15 years for monthly treatment and 3.47-14.6 years for treatment every other month.

ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Bing Chat struggle with recommending practicing nearby ophthalmologists and disproportionate against females.

For people with geographic atrophy, taking pegcetacoplan every other month (the EOM treatment) is more cost-effective than taking the medication every month (the EM treatment).

In the study from AAO 2023, patients with neovascular AMD who are on aflibercept injection treatment continued their treatments >12 weeks or 16 weeks.

VOQUENZA® provides quicker healing than Lansoprazole, according to an FDA-approved Phase 3 study

A new study found that 25% of PSG-PTSD were related to metabolic traits.

Adults with ADHD have greater reduction of symptoms with regulatory licensed doses of stimulants than unlicensed doses.

The risk of fractures was 14% greater in the group with patients with the autoimmune disease than the control group.

A new study indicates biosimilar trials remained consistent from 4-6 months through 12 months, which investigators suggest indicates these trials could be shortened without affecting safety and efficacy profiles.

Two pivotal phrase 3 centanafadine trials show positive outcomes for children and adolescents with ADHD.