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Background: To determine the demographic details and management choices of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) for the newly diagnosed epilepsy patients in India.Methods: This was a retrospective, observational study conducted among newly diagnosed epilepsy patients in India between Apr 2021 and Mar 2022. The demographic parameters, treatment given, adherence to treatment, and clinician’s global assessment for effectiveness and safety of management options were evaluated.Results: Out of 20,343 patients, majority of the patients were aged between 31-50 years (54.5%), and 62.7% of them were males. Majority of the patients were diagnosed with focal epilepsy (72.2%). Migraine was the most common (28.3%) neuropsychiatric comorbidity among these patients followed by anxiety (19.7%), stroke (18.5%) and depression (11.2%); other commonly reported comorbidities were hypertension (38.27%), gastrointestinal disorders (25.39%), and diabetes (22.06%). Levetiracetam (49.6%) was the most commonly prescribed AED, followed by valproate (29.1%), oxcarbazepine (15.5%), clobazam (13.3%) and lacosamide (8%). With the prescribed AEDs, majority (91%) of the patients had decrease in seizure frequency, most (99.2%) patients had ‘good to excellent’ adherence to the therapy, and clinicians rated the efficacy and safety of prescribed drugs as ‘good to excellent’ in most (99.9%) patients.Conclusions: Epilepsy was common in patients aged 30-50 years with male preponderance. Focal epilepsy was more prevalent. Overall levetiracetam was the most prescribed AED. Levetiracetam and valproate were the most prescribed AEDs among focal and generalized epilepsy respectively. AEDs were well tolerated by most of the patients.

<p><strong>Background:</strong> To evaluate risk factors associated with retinal diseases and efficacy and safety of Razumab^TM (biosimilar ranibizumab) in the management of retinal diseases in Indian patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME), retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV).</p><p><strong>Methods:</strong> In the retrospective, observational REAR RD-2 study, all patients with retinal diseases who were treated with biosimilar ranibizumab were included from multiple Indian sites. The demographic parameters, disease characteristics and treatment details were recorded. Efficacy assessments included improvement in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), and decrease in central subfield thickness (CSFT), intra-retinal fluid (IRF) and sub-retinal fluid (SRF) from baseline to week 48.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> Data of 1422 patients (wet AMD-27.57%; DME-30.7%, RVO-33.47%; mCNV-5.48%), who were treated with biosimilar ranibizumab, was analyzed. The most common age group of patients was 61-70 years (36.6%). The most common ocular risk factor identified was glaucoma (24.90%). A total of 85.72% patients were treatment naïve and 14.28% were previously treated patients. Biosimilar ranibizumab treatment resulted in significant (p&lt;0.05) improvements in the mean BCVA and CSFT, and the proportion of patients with IRF and SRF was significantly reduced throughout the treatment. No new safety concerns with biosimilar ranibizumab were observed.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Retinal diseases are more common in the age group of 61-70 years. Glaucoma was the most common ocular risk factor identified for retinal diseases. Long-term treatment with biosimilar ranibizumab was effective and well-tolerated in retinal diseases including wAMD, DME, RVO and mCNV in real-world Indian scenario. </p><p><strong> </strong></p>

Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common urological condition. The treatment of BPH depends on the severity of symptoms which aims to improve symptoms, lower the risk of progression and improve quality of life. The aim of this survey was to understand the prescription pattern of alpha blockers in the treatment of BPH among clinicians of India.Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted between September to December 2018. Data regarding the management of BPH using α-blockers were filled by clinicians and collated for data analysis using appropriate statistical test.Results: Total of 1764 clinicians’ responses was collected and the result was analysed. According to the survey, 47.68% of clinicians felt that severity of the BPH symptoms is most common deciding factor for medical management of BPH. For the pharmacological management of BPH patients, around 58% of clinicians opted for α blockers monotherapy as a preferred option. Among α blockers, 65.14% of clinicians preferred tamsulosin as first line therapy for management of BPH patients. In this survey, 81.75% of clinicians believed that tamsulosin offers highest persistence rate among commonly prescribed α blockers. Looking at the switching to a second α-blocker, 75.45% of clinicians felt that tamsulosin shows the highest return rate following initiation of a second α-blocker. More than 90% of clinicians felt that favourable efficacy or tolerability of tamsulosin is due to its highest persistence and highest return rates.Conclusions: Tamsulosin is the most commonly preferred and prescribed α-blocker by Indian clinicians due to its favourable efficacy or tolerability.

<p><strong>Background:</strong> The objectives of the study was to evaluate the demographic profile of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients and prevalence of overactive bladder (OAB) among these patients.</p><p><strong>Methods:</strong> A real-world, retrospective, observational study (DEMO-2) on BPH patients was conducted across India from April-2021 to March-2022. Demographics, BPH characteristics, status of OAB, and their management were evaluated.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> A total of 5881 BPH patients were included with a mean age of 65.3 years and mean BPH duration of 3.2 years. Majority (80.98%) of the patients had associated comorbidity; hypertension (50.2%), diabetes (26.9%) and dyslipidemia (13%) were the most common. Majority (63%) of the patients complained of incomplete bladder emptying. In BPH patients, 29.9% had OAB. These patients had a higher mean prostate volume (44.96 vs. 42.17 cc) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels (4.11 vs. 3.79 ng/ml) versus BPH patients without OAB. For BPH, tamsulosin was the most prescribed drug (85.90%) followed by dutasteride (66.90%); tamsulosin + dutasteride was most common combination therapy (32.6%).  In BPH patients with OAB, 82% received OAB medications and solifenacin (63.9%) was the most common medication.</p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong>: Majority of the BPH patients were between the ages of 50-75 years. Tamsulosin was the most commonly prescribed medication in BPH patients. Combination of tamsulosin and dutasteride was the mainstay of treatment. OAB was seen in 29.9% of the BPH patients, and solifenacin was the most commonly utilized (63.1%) medication in BPH patients with OAB. About 18% of these patients did not receive any specific medication for OAB. Adequate treatment strategies need to be adopted for BPH patients with OAB.</p>