Articles related to ADVERSE EVENTS

Gabapentin has been increasingly used as part of a multimodal analgesia regimen to reduce opioid use in perioperative pain management. In this cohort study of 237,872 adults aged 65 years or older, perioperative gabapentin users had significantly increased risk of delirium, new antipsychotic use, and pneumonia compared with nonusers after major surgery.

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS), which has a high morbidity and death rate, is one of the deadly side effects of antipsychotic or antiemetic drugs. The common drugs linked to NMS are identified in this article, along with the etiology of the condition, clinical symptoms, risk factors, laboratory and imaging results, and treatment options.

In 2021, melatonin was the most frequently reported substance involved in pediatric substance ingestions, resulting in 4,000 hospitalizations, 287 ICU admissions, and 2 deaths in children under the age of 2. Melatonin supplements can have 500% more melatonin than indicated on the label and about 30% of OTC products tested had serotonin as well.

In this updated analysis of the KEYNOTE-177 study, although pembrolizumab continued to show durable antitumor activity and fewer treatment-related adverse events compared with chemotherapy, there was no significant difference in overall survival between the two treatment groups.

Which AEs are most common with immunotherapy? Most concerning? Are some patients more likely to experience AEs? Should immunotherapy be used for patients with a pre-existing autoimmune condition? Do AEs predict response? Moffitt’s Dr. Hatem Soliman addresses these and other questions in this interview.

A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine looked at the association between cardiovascular outcomes and the coprescription of nitrates with PDE5 inhibitors in more than 42,000 men over a 10-year period. Two composite outcomes were measured: 1) cardiac arrest, shock, myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or acute coronary arteriography; and 2) syncope, angina pectoris, or drug-related adverse event. The authors found no statistically significant increase in measured cardiovascular AEs.