MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
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Prof. Montgomery[/caption]
Prof. Scott Montgomery
Professor of medical science (clinical epidemiology)
Örebro University, Sweden
Director of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Örebro University Hospital, Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Infections have been linked with increased risk of subsequent multiple sclerosis (MS), but it has been suggested this may be because the genetic or other family characteristics of people who go on to develop MS have a more severe response to infections: the infections would be more likely to be recorded in those who would subsequently develop MS, rather than being risk factors for the disease. To address this issue, we performed a large study of 2,492,980 people living in Sweden, and 5,867 of them had a diagnosis of MS after age 20 years.
We identified who had a hospital diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis (caused by Epstein-Barr virus, EBV infection, and also known as glandular fever or the kissing disease). The new study was different from other studies of infection and MS risk, as it compared siblings in the same families. Siblings share much of their genetic make-up and have similar family lives. If glandular fever is associated with later MS when siblings are compared, then it is unlikely that the association is caused by genetics or other family characteristics that make infections worse in people more likely to develop future MS.
Kelly Gavigan[/caption]
Kelly Gavigan, MPH
Manager, Research and Data Science
Dr. Howard[/caption]
Jeffrey Howard, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Public Health
College for Health, Community and Policy
University of Texas at San Antonio
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Drug and alcohol related mortality has been on the rise in the US for the past decade, which has drawn a lot of focus from researchers. At the same time maternal mortality, deaths caused by pregnancy complications, is recognized to be higher in the US than in other developed nations.
Very little has been reported about deaths among pregnant and recently pregnant women that are not caused by pregnancy complications, so my collaborators and I wanted to explore this. We did not anticipate that drug and alcohol deaths and homicides would account for so many deaths among pregnant and recently pregnant women.
Dr. Dan P. Ly[/caption]
Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Los Angeles, CA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Lyme disease presents first on the skin with the classic “bull’s-eye” rash. But such rashes in Black patients aren’t well-represented in medical textbooks. This may lead to physicians not recognizing such rashes in Black patients.
As a result, Black patients are more likely to present with later complications of Lyme disease when first diagnosed such as neurologic complications. 
Dr. Caughey[/caption]
Aaron B. Caughey, M.D., M.P.P., M.P.H., Ph.D.
Professor and ChairDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Associate dean for Women’s Health Research and Policy
Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR.
Founder and Chair, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–funded
Oregon Perinatal Collaborative
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Preeclampsia is one of the most serious health problems that can occur during pregnancy. It can lead to preterm birth, and in some cases even death of the pregnant person and their baby.
The Task Force looked at the latest available evidence and found that low-dose aspirin can help prevent preeclampsia in pregnant people who are at highest risk, and it can also protect their babies. This new final recommendation is consistent with the Task Force’s 2014 recommendation statement and has the potential to save many lives.
Dr. Budnitz[/caption]
Dr. Daniel S. Budnitz MD MPH CAPT, USPHS
Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Medication Safety Program
Atlanta, Georgia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Medications are generally safe when used as prescribed or as directed on the label, but there can be risks in taking any medication. Adverse drug events are harms resulting from the use of medication.
The risk of adverse drug events is highest among older adults and very young children. Older adults have higher risks because they typically take more medications and are more likely to have underlying medical conditions. Very young children have higher risks because they often find and ingest medications meant for others.
Previous studies of medication safety have focused on harm from medications when taken for therapeutic reasons. Separate studies have focused on harm from specific types of non-therapeutic use (taking medications for recreational use or self-harm). This study examined the number of emergency department (ED) visits that resulted when people who took medications for any reason – as directed by a clinician or for other reasons, including recreational use or intentional self-harm.
Lara van der Schoot[/caption]
Lara van der Schoot
MD, PhD candidate
Department of Dermatology
Radboud University Medical Center
Nijmegen, The Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Psoriasis is a chronic, immune mediated skin disease for which effective targeted biological agents have become available the past years. Inherent to their immunomodulatory mechanism of action, biologics might increase infections risk. We know from clinical trial data that respiratory tract infections are among the most common adverse events during biologic treatment, but real-world data is sparse. Regarding the risk of serious infections among biologic users, mostly defined as infections requiring hospitalization, previous studies provided different results and there is limited comparative data for the newer biologics available.
The COVID-19 pandemic turned attention to the risk of infections among biologic users, especially for respiratory tract infections, as they might relate to susceptibility for viral respiratory tract infections such as COVID-19.
In our study, the primary aim was to determine the risk of respiratory tract infections among real-world psoriasis patients treated with biologics, including the newer IL-17 and IL-23 inhibitors. The secondary aim was to assess risk of serious infections in this cohort. Additionally, rates of SARS-CoV-2 infections were assessed.
Dr. Frost[/caption]
Holly Frost, MD
Assistant Professor Pediatrics
University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine
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