PurposeTo evaluate long-term outcome of three years and treatment patterns of patients suffering from severely drug-refractory epilepsy (SDRE).MethodsThis analysis was population-based and retrospective, with data collected from four million individuals insured by statutory German health insurance. ICD-10 codes for epilepsy (G40*) and intake of anticonvulsants were used to identify prevalent cases, which were then compared with a matched cohort drawn from the population at large. Insurance data were available from 2008 to 2013. Any patient who had been prescribed with at least four different antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in an 18-month period was defined as an SDRE case.ResultsA total of 769 patients with SDRE were identified. Of these, 19% were children and adolescents; the overall mean age was 42.3 years, 45.4% were female and 54.6% male. An average of 2.7 AEDs per patient was prescribed during the first follow-up year. The AEDs most commonly prescribed were: levetiracetam (53.5%), lamotrigine (41.4%), valproate (41.3%), lacosamide (20.4%), and topiramate (17.8%). During 3-year follow-up, there was an annual rate of hospitalization in the range 42.7 to 55%, which was significantly higher than the 11.6–12.8% (p < 0.001) for the matched controls. Admissions to hospital because of epilepsy ranged between 1.7 and 1.9 per year, with an average duration for each epilepsy-caused hospitalization of 10–11.1 days. The number of comorbidities for SDRE patients was significantly increased compared with the matched controls: depression (28% against 10%), vascular disorders (22% against 5%), and injury rates were also higher (head 16% against 3%, trunk and limbs 16% against 8%). The 3-year mortality rate for SDRE patients was 14% against 2.1% in the matched cohort.ConclusionSDRE patients are treated with AED polytherapy for all of the 3-year follow-up period. They are hospitalized more frequently than the general population and show increased morbidity levels and a sevenfold increase in mortality rate over 3 years. Further examination is required of ways in which new approaches to treatment could lead to better outcomes in severely affected patients.

Comorbidities in COPD have a complex relationship with disease severity, requiring a comprehensive therapy approach.

Aim: Estimate incidence and costs of cardiac device infections (CDIs) in Germany. Materials & methods:Patients had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator implanted over 2010-2013 and were followed to December 2014 using German health insurance claims data. A case-controlled analysis was performed using propensity score matching methods. Results: Risk of CDI 12 months post-implant was 3.4% overall, either 2.9% for de novo procedures versus 4.4% for replacement procedures. Mean 3-year incremental expenditure per patient for patients with CDI compared with controls was €31,493 for de novo implant patients and €33,777 for replacement patients. Mean incremental expenditure was €59,419 per patient with a major infection. Conclusion: CDIs are highly expensive to manage, reinforcing the need for strategies to reduce their occurrence. [1]. These devices are recommended for selected patients in guidelines from specialty medical societies and health technology assessment agencies [2][3][4]. There is an extensive body of evidence that demonstrates benefits including prolonged survival, improved quality of life and cost-effectiveness.Implantation of cardiac devices carries a risk of adverse events. These are classifiable as access-related (e.g., pneumothorax, hemothorax and hematoma), lead-related (e.g., perforation, displacement, fracture and endocarditis), generator-related (e.g., generator failure, migration and erosion) and pocket infection. Complete removal of all hardware is recommended in medical society guidelines and other scientific documents for patients with established cardiac device-related infection (CDI), and this includes cases in which a localized pocket infection occurs in the absence of signs of systemic infection, due to high relapse rates observed with retained hardware [5][6][7]. On the other hand, cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) removal is not required for superficial or incisional infection at the pocket site if there is no involvement of the device.A large randomized controlled trial (DANISH study) recently reported an infection rate of 4.9% in a cohort of 556 ICD/CRT-D patients over a median follow-up of 5.6 years [8]. Serious device infections occurred in 2.7% of patients, defined as requiring lead extraction or lifelong antibiotic treatment or causing death. Worryingly, the number of CDI cases has been increasing: national healthcare data for the USA reported the number of hospitalizations due to CDI rose from 5308 in the year 2003 to 9948 in 2011 [9]. The increase is attributed to multiple factors including increased use of CRT devices (which have three leads and a higher risk of infection),