PCV16 Smoking Related Costs in the United States

Smoking is a high-risk behavior that affects the health and economic welfare of society. Thus, it is important to quantify the economic burden smoking places on social institutions in the United States.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this review paper is to analyze smoking cost studies and to provide estimates that represent the economic costs of smoking from different perspectives of society, and as a whole.
METHODS: Current Contents (1996–), Health Star (1970–), and Medline (1966–) databases were searched through the use of pertinent subject headings and key words: tobacco use, smoking, cost, and economics. The internet was utilized to identify potential sources of epidemiological and cost information on smoking. Recent cost-of-illness studies using different methodologies: human capital, incidence, and prevalence were chosen for review based on their relevance.
RESULTS: Preliminary results indicate that the published cost studies available underestimate the "true" costs of smoking. The most current articles approximate annual direct medical costs to health care payers of $50 billion (1993); inflating to 1997 equals $59 billion or $1,200 per smoker. Although the latest cost studies do not attempt to estimate indirect costs, past studies have found indirect costs to be 1.5–2 times the direct costs. Therefore, using direct and indirect costs we estimate total smoking costs to be $150 billion (1993); inflating to 1997 equals $176 billion or $3,500 per smoker.
CONCLUSION: Quantifying the cost of smoking is a difficult task due to tobacco use infiltrating many aspects of life and the dependency of cost on perspective. Cost-of-illness studies provide cost estimation data which can be useful in aiding decision-makers who are allocating health care resources.     

Intravenous digital subtraction renal angiography: use in screening for renovascular hypertension

Intravenous digital subtraction renal angiography (DSRA) has been compared with conventional angiography only in small, selected series of hypertensive patients. The authors prospectively examined with intravenous DSRA 94 patients at increased risk for renovascular hypertension and compared these studies with conventional angiography. A stenosis of at least one main renal artery was identified with intravenous DSRA in 22 patients and confirmed in 20 patients. No significant stenoses were seen with conventional angiography in any of the 64 patients in whom lesions were not seen with intravenous DSRA. Since inadequate DSRA studies were considered positive for renal artery stenosis, the sensitivity of intravenous DSRA was 100% (25 of 25); specificity, 93% (64 of 69); positive predictive value, 83% (25 of 30); and negative predictive value, 100% (64 of 64). The authors conclude that intravenous DSRA is a sensitive test for identifying stenosis of the main renal arteries and is appropriate to use as a screening test among patients at increased risk for renovascular hypertension.     

Causes of jaundice during hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy

Jaundice develops in many patients with liver metastases from colorectal adenocarcinoma during hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC). The usual cause is thought to be hepatotoxicity from the chemotherapeutic agent or biliary obstruction from progressive neoplastic disease. The authors evaluated the abdominal computed tomography and ultrasound examinations performed on 49 patients who were jaundiced during long-term HAIC. In only one patient was diffuse intrahepatic biliary dilatation caused by an obstructing mass in the porta. Two patients had metastatic hepatic lesions causing focal biliary obstruction. Intrahepatic dilatation without an obstructing mass occurred in 20 patients. Percutaneous or endoscopic cholangiograms were commonly interpreted prospectively as showing extrinsic compression by metastases, but no mass was confirmed on imaging studies. Seven patients had focal intrahepatic ductal dilatation from stricture without an associated mass. The remaining 19 patients had normal-caliber ducts; their jaundice was caused by chemical hepatitis. This series suggests that the most common causes of jaundice in these patients are chemical hepatitis and common bile duct stricture, complications of intraarterial chemotherapy, rather than neoplastic obstruction. Stricture formation may be confused with extrinsic compression on direct cholangiograms.     

Translational development of splice-modifying antisense oligomers

Introduction: Antisense nucleic acid analogues can interact with pre-mRNA motifs and influence exon or splice site selection and thereby alter gene expression. Design of antisense molecules to target specific motifs can result in either exon exclusion or exon inclusion during splicing. Novel drugs exploiting the antisense concept are targeting rare, life-limiting diseases; however, the potential exists to treat a wide range of conditions by antisense-mediated splice intervention.

Areas covered: In this review, the authors discuss the clinical translation of novel molecular therapeutics to address the fatal neuromuscular disorders Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy. The review also highlights difficulties posed by issues pertaining to restricted participant numbers, variable phenotype and disease progression, and the identification and validation of study endpoints.

Expert opinion: Translation of novel therapeutics for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy has been greatly advanced by multidisciplinary research, academic-industry partnerships and in particular, the engagement and support of the patient community. Sponsors, supporters and regulators are cooperating to deliver new drugs and identify and define meaningful outcome measures. Non-conventional and adaptive trial design could be particularly suited to clinical evaluation of novel therapeutics and strategies to treat serious, rare diseases that may be problematic to study using more conventional clinical trial structures.