Debbie Rigby rounds up the latest in research news
Harms and benefits of sodium‑glucose co‑transporter 2 inhibitors
Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors are oral glucose-lowering drugs that increase the urinary excretion of glucose. In patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease they reduce all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, rates of hospitalisation for heart failure and the progression of renal disease.
Aust Prescr 2020;43:168-71.
Cumulative dispensing of high oral corticosteroid doses for treating asthma in Australia
Analysis of PBS dispensing data shows one-quarter of patients with asthma using inhaled corticosteroids are also dispensed potentially toxic amounts of oral corticosteroids. Cumulative amounts of prednisolone greater than 1 gram can elicit osteoporosis and fracture, diabetes, cataracts, weight gain, sleep apnoea, renal impairment, pneumonia, myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke, dyslipidaemia, and depression.
Med J Aust 2020; 213 (7): 316-320.
Effects of Vitamin D and Marine Omega‐3 Fatty Acid Supplementation on Chronic Knee Pain
In the double‐blind, placebo‐controlled Vitamin D and Omega‐3 Trial (VITAL), over 25,000 US adults were randomized to receive vitamin D (2000IU/day), n‐3 FA (Omacor 1G/day) or placebo. Vitamin D and n‐3 FA supplementation for a mean of 5.3 years did not reduce knee pain or improve function or stiffness in the study. These results suggest that supplementation with vitamin D or n-3 FA does not play a role in the management of symptomatic knee pain due to OA.
Arthritis & Rheumatology 2020.
In this 6-week randomized controlled trial, both as-needed and regular use of INCS had similar improvement in the total nasal symptom score and quality of life scores. The treatment effect was less sustained with as-needed use; however, as-needed use had half of INCS exposure of the regular use.
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice 2020.
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