eLetters

1544 e-Letters

  • Misleading information of no value

    Combination drug therapy for ADHD and one or more of the common co-occurring disorders experienced by 50-60% of patients with ADHD is appropriate on-label use of stimulant plus anti-depressant for instance. 40% of patients with appropriately diagnosed ADHD have clinically significant anxiety as well, 30% have depression. SSRIs have FDA-approved Indications for treating both of these conditions. Stimulants and SSRIs are basically safe when taken together; rare instances of serotonin syndrome are seen. I do not see any evidence that any professional with experience diagnosing and managing patients with these conditions had any input into this "study"; if there had been then the negative value of the report would have been evident. Without correlating diagnoses with the data cited, as noted in the "limitations" section, the data is of no significance whatsoever. As a physician with 18 years of specialty practice in the field of ADHD and 26 years of general Family Medicine prior to that I can attest to the inaccuracy of the biased conclusions reached in this paper. I have no financial interests or benefit from any manufacturer of pharmaceuticals or any other purported treatments for ADHD. I do have a passion for exposing the "myth-information" surrounding ADHD diagnosis and treatment which abounds in the popular press and unfortunately in professional publications as well.

  • Antibiotic Storage Guidelines

    Dear Editor,

    I am writing to draw attention to a commonly overlooked issue that affects the efficacy of antibiotics in tropical countries. It has been observed that many parents fail to store reconstituted antibiotics, such as amoxicillin, in the refrigerator, which can significantly reduce their potency and render them ineffective.

    As we know, antibiotics are essential for treating bacterial infections, and their effectiveness is crucial for ensuring good health outcomes. However, in tropical countries where high temperatures and humidity are prevalent, it is especially important to handle these drugs with care to ensure that they retain their potency.

    The problem arises when parents fail to store reconstituted antibiotics in the refrigerator, which is necessary to maintain their efficacy. In many cases, this may be due to a lack of awareness about the importance of refrigeration for these drugs. Hence, there is a need for pharmacists and healthcare professionals to provide clear instructions to parents at the time of dispensing the powder form of these drugs.

    To address this issue, I suggest that pharmacists and healthcare professionals should educate parents about the need to store reconstituted antibiotics in the refrigerator. This information should be given at the time of dispensing the drug to ensure that parents understand the importance of following the guidelines for optimal efficacy.

    In conclusion, it is crucial to raise awaren...

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  • Inner ear and autism

    A major limitation of this article is that it does address relevant previous literature. For half a century I have been publishing in major journals the hypothesis that autism is a variant peripheral audiovestibular disorder. There is no upper limit to the IQ in autism, which alone should sink any primary brain damage hypothesis. As noted by Grandin , who admits to having Meniere's disease, you only have to look around Silicon Valley.
    In retrospect, I now place less emphasis on otitis media, and more on inner ear changes known to accompany it, specifically endolymphatic hydrops. I have carefully reviewed the literature on audiosensitivity ("hyperacusis"), prominent in autism and Meniere's disease, and cannot find any other cause for it other than hydrops.

  • Improving food quality rather than food

    The article says, "The majority of current restaurant meals consumed by American adults—70% of meals consumed from fast-food restaurants and 50% consumed from full-service restaurants—are of poor nutritional quality, and the remainder are only of intermediate nutritional quality, with very few being ideal."

    That being the case, perhaps government policy ought to focus on food quality rather than menu calorie labelling. That would have to start back on the farm. Norwegian animal science researchers suggest this approach. In a 2011 article entitled 'Animal products, diseases and drugs: a plea for better integration between agricultural sciences, human nutrition and human pharmacology' the authors wrote, "It is shown how an unnaturally high omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid concentration ratio in meat, offal and eggs (because the omega-6/omega-3 ratio of the animal diet is unnaturally high) directly leads to exacerbation of pain conditions, cardiovascular disease and probably most cancers. It should be technologically easy and fairly inexpensive to produce poultry and pork meat with much more long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and less arachidonic acid than now, at the same time as they could also have a similar selenium concentration as is common in marine fish. The health economic benefits of such products for society as a whole must be expected vastly to outweigh the direct costs for the farming sector."[1]

    Problem is, policy makers and the...

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  • Protocol changes concerning sample size

    Per April 12th 2023, the sample size of the protocol was changed from 84 to 74 participants.
    In the original design of the study, sample size was calculated using the following parameters: power 80%, anticipated effect difference 25%, alpha 5%. Sample size was calculated at 32 per group (allocation 1:1). Loss to follow-up was anticipated at 10 participants per group, leading to a sample size of 84 participants.
    However, with 57 patients included and 21 patients who have completed follow-up, the researchers see no loss to follow-up. Therefore, the anticipated loss of follow-up of 10 per arm may be more than necessary.
    A protocol amendement, anticipating 5 patients loss-to-follow-up per arm, has been proposed to the medical ethics committee, which has approved this change in protocol.

  • Important typo to highlight for readers re: PMS

    Thank you for this article on PMS - an important public health topic. There is an important typo in the introduction. The article states "Globally, 90% women of reproductive age experience severe premenstrual symptoms" (cited to Chumpalova doi: 10.1186/s12991-019-0255-1). The word 'severe' should be 'several' - an important definition for readers >>> "Globally, 90% of women of reproductive age experience several premenstrual symptoms".

  • Editor's note

    BMJ Open thanks Dr Kilian and colleagues for their rapid response entitled "Serious flaws in article". The authors of the paper have been contacted and have been asked to provide their response.

  • RE: Primary open-angle glaucoma in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea in a Colombian population

    Cerquera Jaramillo et al. conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate the risk of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) (1). There was no dose-response relationship by measuring optic nerve information and the severity of OSA, although OSA contributed to the increased risk of POAG. I recently made comments regarding the increased risk of POAG in patients with OSA by considering the mechanism of association (2). There is a space of summing-up information for preventing POAG, and the understanding of pathophysiology regarding the comorbidity may contribute to new therapeutic approach for POAG (3).

    References
    1. Cerquera Jaramillo MA, Moreno Mazo SE, Toquica Osorio JE. Primary open-angle glaucoma in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea in a Colombian population: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open 2023;13(2):e063506.
    2. Kawada T. Obstructive sleep apnea and open-angle glaucoma. J Clin Sleep Med 2023 Feb 7. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.10494 [Epub ahead of print]
    3. Goyal M, Tiwari US, Jaseja H. Pathophysiology of the comorbidity of glaucoma with obstructive sleep apnea: A postulation. Eur J Ophthalmol 2021;31(5):2776-2780.

  • Response

    I was greatly interested in the article by Peter Chai et al. 1 Additional considerations can be made with regard to STI prevention strategies. Condoms have allowed a massive reduction in the risks of STI, including HIV. In the West, HIV is no longer frightening; due to the advent of antiretroviral drugs, it has changed from a fatal disease to a chronic disease. This paradigm shift has led to a modification of sexual behavior and to the trivialization of condoms. Thus, new strategies are being developed (i.e., PrEP). 2 However, HIV remains a preventable STI in the same manner as gonorrhea, viral hepatitis, syphilis or emergent STI, and these STIs are on the rise with increased costs, antibiotic use and drug resistance. Although the data on PrEP are encouraging (few seroconversions), they are recent, and we do not have sufficient information available to include compliance as a factor limiting these results.3 Moreover, PrEP cannot compete with condoms. 4 All of these elements belong to an evolving sociocultural model, and it is essential to emphasize sexual responsibility (safer sex) to optimize STI prevention strategies.
    References
    1. Peter Chai, Dikkha De, Hannah Albrechta, Georgia R Goodman, Koki Takabatake, Amy Ben-Arieh, Jasper S Lee, Tiffany R Glynn, Kenneth Mayer, Conall O’Cleirigh, Celia Fisher. Attitudes towards participating in research involving digital pill systems to measure oral HIV pre-exposure chemoprophylaxis: a cross-sectional study among men wh...

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  • The importance of patient participation

    Firstly, in this response to the earlier comments of Deborah L. Lokken and Beverley H. Johnson of February 24, 2023, we agree that patient participation in patient safety is of huge importance. Sorry that we may be gave you the wrong impression and we would like to apologize for this. We see it as a positive development towards a true partnership in healthcare between patient and professional, however, there can be also concerns or risks if patients participate. We therefore also need the negative effects of patient participation in patient safety to take the next step in the development of patient participation.

    To take the next step in the contribution of patients and their families to patient safety, it is important to examine the full context and see which ‘gaps’ need to be addressed. Even if focusing only on negative effects could lead to a bias, identifying these gaps will us learn which ones there are and therefore also what we need to work on in order to make that positive contribution of patients in patient safety. For that reason, we have also indicated as a recommendation from this study that it is necessary to find the measures that need to be taken to either prevent these negative effects or address them ad hoc as soon as they occur.

    We can understand that the authors have some questions about the initiatives mentioned or about the small sample size. We have included the small sample size as a limitation. However, as also described in our publi...

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