Trends in use and costs of prescription medication in patients with type 1 diabetes: 9-year follow-up after kidney transplantation

Aims: Weestimated long-term trends in prescription medication utilization and costs in patients with type 1 diabetes in two different transplant cohorts (Group 1: transplantation 1986-1999,n = 180;Group 2: transplantation 2000-2008, n = 150). Methods: Data obtained from the Finnish Diabetic Nephropathy Study were linked with the Drug Prescription Register (purchases of medications 1995-2009). Generalized linear mixed models under gamma distribution were used to evaluate the medication costs. Results: The total costs of medication decreased (Group 1 from€11,290 to €8760;Group 2 from €12,800 to €9790)during the follow-up (P< 0.0001). The sametrend was observed for immunosuppressive drugcosts (P< 0.0001). Although the cost profiles were similar for the groups (P= 0.9), the cost level in Group 2 was higher than in Group 1 (P< 0.0001). In Group 1 the most common immunosuppressive combination was cyclosporine, azathioprine and corticosteroid, while cyclosporine, mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) with/without corticosteroid was the most common in Group 2. The estimated average costs of cyclosporine in combination withMMFwere 84% (€4130) higher than with azathioprine. Conclusions: Since diabetes or other drugs had only marginal impact on the total costs, the decreasing trend wasmainly due to the costs of immunosuppressants.This finding is consistent with the recent guidelines which recommend reducing doses of immunosuppressants over time to minimize sideeffects.The cost levels differed depending on the combinations of immunosuppressive drugs in use. Those who had MMF in the regimen generated higher costs.

乳腺X线筛查及其他方法检出的乳腺癌发生远期复发的危险

背景：对确诊患乳腺癌的妇女行全身辅助治疗是基于其肿瘤复发的危险。进行危险评估时，通过乳腺X线筛查发现的肿瘤发生复发的危险与其他方法发现的大小相似的肿瘤相同。目的：对乳腺X线筛查或其他方法发现的女性乳腺癌患者的复发危险和生存率进行比较。设计、地点及患者：对乳腺X线筛查出的肿瘤和其他方法发现的肿瘤进行回顾性研究，比较其临床、组织病理学和生物学特性。从芬兰肿瘤登记处（Finnish Cancer Registry）检出1991年或1992年诊断患有乳腺癌的妇女（n=2842）。中位随访时间为9．5年。应用免疫组织化学或原位杂交法对肿瘤的生物学特性进行肿瘤组织微矩阵分析，包括ERBB2、TP53、MK167表达和ERBB2扩增数据。主要观察指标：影响乳腺癌远期复发和10年生存率的潜在危险因素的单变量分析和多变量分析。结果：在1983例患单侧浸润性乳腺癌的妇女中，1918例有肿瘤直径数据。通过乳腺X线筛查发现的肿瘤患者与其他方法发现的肿瘤患者比较，前者10年远期无病生存率更高（肿瘤≤10mm[n=386]：92％比85％[P=0．04]；肿瘤11～20mm[n=808]：88％比76％[P〈0．001]；肿瘤21～30mm[n=409]：86％比63％[P=0．008]；肿瘤〉30mm[n=315]：68％比50％[P=0．12]）。在包括各种肿瘤生物学因素的Cox多变量模型中，其他方法发现的肿瘤患者发生远期复发的相对风险比（hazard ratio[HR]，1．90；95％可信区间，1．15—3．11）显著高于乳腺X线筛查发现的肿瘤患者（P=0．01）。通过乳腺X线筛查确诊乳腺癌是降低远期复发相对HR的独立预后变量。这种作用相当于甚至超过肿瘤直径缩少1cm的作用（HR，1．20；95％可信区间，1．10～1．31）。结论：通过乳腺X线筛查发现的肿瘤与其他方法发现的大小相似的肿瘤比较，前者预后更好。在评估远期转移危险时必须考虑肿瘤检测方法，否则就会高估经乳腺X线筛查确诊的肿瘤患者发生远期转移的危险。