Biomedical subjects

Kerry Wilbur

Publications and source records attributed to Kerry Wilbur.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Drug-related hospitalizations in a tertiary care internal medicine service of a Canadian hospital: a prospective study.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To determine the frequency, severity, preventability, and classification of adverse drug events resulting in hospitalization, and to identify any patient, prescriber, drug, and system factors associated with these events. DESIGN: Prospective, observational study. SETTING: Internal medicine service of a large tertiary care hospital in Canada. PATIENTS: A total of 565 consecutive adult patients admitted to the hospital during a 12-week period. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A patient's hospitalization was defined as drug related if it was directly related to one of eight predefined classifications; severity and preventability of the hospitalization were also assessed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate patient, prescriber, drug, and system factors associated with drug-related hospitalizations. The frequency of drug-related hospitalization was 24.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 20.6-27.8%), of which 72.1% (95% CI 63.7-79.4%) were deemed preventable. Severity was classified as mild, moderate, severe, and fatal in 8.1% (95% CI 4.1-14.0%), 83.8% (95% CI 76.5-89.6%), 7.4% (95% CI 3.6-13.1%), and 0.7% (95% CI 0.0-4.0%), respectively, of the hospitalizations. The most common classifications of drug-related hospitalization were adverse drug reactions (35.3% [95% CI 27.3-43.9%]), improper drug selection (17.6% [95% CI 11.6-25.1%]), and noncompliance (16.2% [95% CI 10.4-23.5%]). No independent risk factors for drug-related hospitalization were identified with regression modeling. CONCLUSION: Approximately 25% of patients in our study were hospitalized for drug-related causes; over 70% of these causes were deemed preventable. Drug-related hospitalization is a significant problem that merits further research and intervention.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

Myocardial infarction associated with intravenous immune globulin.

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of acute myocardial infarction (MI) experienced by a patient receiving intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) and review other published cases of MI associated with IVIG. CASE SUMMARY: An 81-year-old Vietnamese man was prescribed IVIG for treatment of toxic epidermal necrolysis secondary to allopurinol. Thirty minutes following the start of the IVIG infusion, the patient developed crushing retrosternal chest pain and shortness of breath. The pain improved upon discontinuation of IVIG infusion but recurred when IVIG was restarted. The troponin level reached 140 microg/L, and a persantine sestamibi stress test (MIBI) indicated anterolateral ischemia. The patient was diagnos ed with non-ST-elevation MI. An objective causality assessment using the Naranjo probability scale revealed a probable association between this adverse reaction and IVIG treatment. DISCUSSION: Although an association between IVIG administration and MI has not been demonstrated in clinical trials, accumulating clinical experience suggests that a relationship between IVIG and myocardial ischemia exists. Twenty published case reports were identified. Risk of acute MI seems to be increased with use of high-dose IVIG and in older individuals, especially those with at least one cardiovascular risk factor, such as ischemic heart disease or hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: Case reports suggest a causal relationship between the use of IVIG and MI and other thrombotic events. While cardiovascular disease is not considered an absolute contraindication to therapy, expanding indications and subsequent use of IVIG merit that clinicians be aware of patient characteristics that may increase the risk for adverse reactions and recognize early signs of infarction.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

Antimicrobial therapy in patients with acute variceal hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Acute variceal hemorrhage is a serious complication of liver disease and hospital outcome is closely related to infection. Patients with cirrhosis are at greater risk for developing bacterial infection, which is associated with failure to control bleeding and higher rates of hospital mortality. Many clinical practice guidelines endorse antimicrobial prophylaxis as standard of care for cirrhotic patients. OBJECTIVE: The present study was performed to characterize the use of antimicrobial therapy for patients hospitalized with acute variceal hemorrhage. METHODS: Medical records of 98 patients hospitalized with suspected variceal hemorrhage were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: One-half of the patients received antimicrobials at any time during their hospital admission, and in very few (24%) could prescribed therapy be considered prophylactic. Seventy-seven per cent of patients undergoing endoscopy did not receive an antimicrobial within 24 h of the procedure. Those who received antimicrobial therapy had more severe liver disease (model for end-stage liver disease scores of 19.5 +/- 10 versus 12.9 +/- 8, P< 0.05; Child-Pugh class C 78% versus 65%, not significant) and worse in-hospital outcome (length of stay 17 versus 6.5 days, P<0.05; mortality 15 versus two, P< 0.05). Cephalosporins were the most widely prescribed agents (45%), followed by fluoroquinolone (40%). Regimens ranged in length from single-dose administration to two weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with liver disease admitted with variceal hemorrhage were often not prescribed antimicrobial therapy to reduce the risk of bacterial infection. These results imply that published practice guidelines are not being consistently observed. A large, well-designed study with mortality outcome may be required for clinical guidelines to be successfully implemented in practice.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed2004

An assessment of quality of sleep and the use of drugs with sedating properties in hospitalized adult patients.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalization can significantly disrupt sleeping patterns. In consideration of the previous reports of insomnia and apparent widespread use of benzodiazepines and other hypnotics in hospitalized patients, we conducted a study to assess quality of sleep and hypnotic drug use in our acute care adult patient population. The primary objectives of this study were to assess sleep disturbance and its determinants including the use of drugs with sedating properties. METHODS: This single-centre prospective study involved an assessment of sleep quality for consenting patients admitted to the general medicine and family practice units of an acute care Canadian hospital. A validated Verran and Snyder-Halpern (VSH) Sleep Scale measuring sleep disturbance, sleep effectiveness, and sleep supplementation was completed daily by patients and scores were compared to population statistics. Patients were also asked to identify factors influencing sleep while in hospital, and sedating drug use prior to and during hospitalization was also assessed. RESULTS: During the 70-day study period, 100 patients completed at least one sleep questionnaire. There was a relatively even distribution of males versus females, most patients were in their 8th decade of life, retired, and suffered from multiple chronic diseases. The median self-reported pre-admission sleep duration for participants was 8 hours and our review of PharmaNet profiles revealed that 35 (35%) patients had received a dispensed prescription for a hypnotic or antidepressant drug in the 3-month period prior to admission. Benzodiazepines were the most common sedating drugs prescribed. Over 300 sleep disturbance, effective and supplementation scores were completed. Sleep disturbance scores across all study days ranged 16-681, sleep effectiveness scores ranged 54-402, while sleep supplementation scores ranged between 0-358. Patients tended to have worse sleep scores as compared to healthy non-hospitalized US adults in all three scales. When compared to US non-hospitalized adults with insomnia, our patients demonstrated sleep disturbance and supplementation scores that were similar on Day 1, but lower (i.e. improved) on Day 3, while sleep effectiveness were higher (i.e. better) on both days. There was an association between sleep disturbance scores and the number of chronic diseases, the presence of pain, the use of bedtime tricyclic antidepressants, and the number of chronic diseases without pain. There was also an association between sleep effectiveness scores and the length of hospitalization, the in hospital use of bedtime sedatives and the presence of pain. Finally, an association was identified between sleep supplementation scores and the in hospital use of bedtime sedatives (tricyclic antidepressants and loxapine), and age. Twenty-nine (29%) patients received a prescription for a hypnotic drug while in hospital, with no evidence of pre-admission hypnotic use. The majority of these patients were prescribed zopiclone, lorazepam or another benzodiazepine. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study reveal that quality of sleep is a problem that affects hospitalized adult medical service patients and a relatively high percentage of these patients are being prescribed a hypnotic prior to and during hospitalization.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Colchicine myotoxicity: case reports and literature review.

Two of our patients experienced myotoxicity associated with colchicine administration. The first was a 54-year-old woman who was receiving dialysis and came to the emergency department with progressive generalized weakness and vomiting. She recently had taken colchicine for the treatment of gout. Physical examination revealed proximal muscle weakness and tenderness on palpation. Her creatine kinase (CK), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were elevated at 7185, 563, and 541 U/L, respectively. Drug-induced myopathy was suspected and colchicine was discontinued. The patient was discharged after symptom resolution 1 week later. The second patient was an 83-year-old woman with chronic renal insufficiency who came to the hospital with anorexia, diarrhea, and inability to get out of bed due to progressive weakness. Her colchicine dosage recently had been increased for gout management. Physical examination revealed generalized muscle weakness and tenderness on palpation. Her CK, ALT, and AST levels were elevated at 1797, 147, and 172 U/L, respectively. Electromyographic results were consistent with colchicine myopathy. The patient was discharged with minimal residual muscle weakness 1 week after discontinuation of colchicine. A literature search identified 82 documented cases of colchicine-induced myotoxicity. Most patients had a history of proximal weakness and pain with elevated CK, ALT, and AST levels. Onset of symptoms generally occurred days to weeks after initial administration of colchicine at the usual dosage in patients with renal impairment or a change in underlying disease state in those receiving long-term therapy. Muscle toxicity was not necessarily accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms. Concomitantly administered drugs often were cyclosporine or corticosteroids. Diagnosis may be confirmed by electromyography or muscle biopsy. Colchicine-induced myotoxicity is a rare adverse effect but is well described in the literature. Clinicians should recognize that renal impairment is the primary risk factor for development of colchicine-induced myotoxicity, and that dosage adjustment or alternative therapy may be required.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Phenytoin-diazepam interaction.

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of phenytoin toxicity potentially associated with concurrent diazepam therapy. CASE SUMMARY: A 44-year-old First Nations man presented to the emergency department with headache, nystagmus, diplopia, and ataxia. Apart from a long-standing seizure disorder, his past medical history was unremarkable. The antiepileptic drug regimen of phenytoin, phenobarbital, and lamotrigine had been unchanged for almost 5 months. Total phenytoin serum concentration reported 2 weeks prior to hospital admission was 8 micro g/L. Two days prior to admission, he was prescribed amoxicillin and diazepam; he denied use of nonprescription or herbal medications. The serum phenytoin concentration drawn in the hospital was 37 micro g/mL. Both phenytoin and diazepam were stopped, and the symptoms resolved. His neurologic abnormalities were attributed to phenytoin toxicity caused by an interaction with diazepam. DISCUSSION: The literature documenting a potential interaction between diazepam and phenytoin is conflicting. Case reports and controlled studies have demonstrated both increases and decreases in serum phenytoin concentrations when these agents were administered concomitantly. Phenytoin induces the metabolism of drugs that are substrates of CYP2C, CYP2D, and CYP3A; however, phenytoin is eliminated predominantly by CYP2C9- and CYP2C19-dependent hepatic metabolism. Diazepam is one example of a drug that is extensively metabolized by CYP2C19 and could potentially influence phenytoin elimination by acting as an alternate substrate for this isoenzyme. In our patient, the timing of drug administration, clinical and physical examination findings, and laboratory data suggest that diazepam therapy resulted in phenytoin toxicity. Use of the Naranjo probability scale indicated a probable relationship between the adverse clinical effects observed and phenytoin and diazepam coadministration in this patient. CONCLUSIONS: Phenytoin is a known inducer of drugs metabolized by CYP2C, CYP2D, and CYP3A, but its own metabolism may be altered by drugs influencing CYP2C9 or CYP2C19, such as diazepam. Agents not acting as enzyme inhibitors or inducers, but instead behaving as alternate substrates for enzyme-binding sites, may produce clinically relevant drug interactions through an underrecognized mechanism.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Beta blocker prophylaxis for patients with variceal hemorrhage.

GOALS: To characterize beta blocker therapy for the primary and secondary prevention of variceal hemorrhage. BACKGROUND: Variceal hemorrhage is one of the more frequent and severe complications of portal hypertension due to liver disease. Beta blocker therapy has been demonstrated to decrease risk of first bleed in patients with evidence of varices and recurrent bleeding and mortality in patients with history of prior variceal hemorrhage. STUDY: A total of 106 patients with liver disease hospitalized with suspected variceal hemorrhage were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Half of patients had known varices, 44 (41.5%) of whom had experienced prior variceal hemorrhage. Only 21 (20%) were receiving beta blocker therapy at admission and 41 (48%) at discharge. The majority were not receiving therapy for primary prophylaxis (94%). Specific characteristics associated with beta blocker use could not be identified, although more patients with history of greater than two variceal hemorrhages were receiving beta blocker at admission (73% vs. 41%, P = 0.04) CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that liver disease patients with varices are often not receiving beta blocker therapy to reduce risk of first or subsequent variceal hemorrhage. Opportunity exists to optimize use of this proven prophylactic treatment and bridge an apparent gap in standard of care.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗