Uncertainty surrounds anticoagulation risks and benefits in patients with chronic kidney disease with atrial fibrillation

Effectiveness of medical rehabilitation in persons with back pain - lessons learned from a German cohort study

PURPOSE

Evidence for health-related effects of German medical rehabilitation programs for back pain is inconclusive. This cohort study aimed to examine the effectiveness of medical rehabilitation in residents with back pain (German Clinical Trial Register: DRKS00011554).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A sample of 45 000 people aged 45-59 years was randomly drawn from two pension agencies. We used propensity score matching to compare persons with back pain who completed a medical rehabilitation program with similar untreated subjects. Questionnaire data were assessed in 2017 and 2019, and linked with administrative data. The primary outcome was pain disability.

RESULTS

In total, 6610 persons with back pain were considered for matching and we finally compared 200 persons treated in a medical rehabilitation program with 200 untreated subjects. Pain disability was reported more favorable in the control group without medical rehabilitation compared to the intervention group (difference = 4.2; 95% CI -0.8-9.2), as well as other secondary outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

At first glance, the findings suggest that medical rehabilitation was ineffective in improving health, pain and work ability among employed persons with back pain, but we found plausible explanations indicating that the estimated effects in favor of the untreated subjects are methodologically induced.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONPropensity score matching can be used to assess the effects of multimodal interventions in persons with back pain in routine care.Inappropriate recruitment of controls may underestimate treatment effects.When using observational data and propensity score matching to analyze the effectiveness of medical rehabilitation, baseline survey should be conducted directly before the start of rehabilitation to identify comparable controls.

Thromboembolic and Hemorrhagic Outcomes in the Direct Oral Anticoagulant Trials Across the Spectrum of Kidney Function

Chronic kidney disease is a common comorbidity among patients taking direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs). Herein, we evaluate the influence of kidney function on stroke or systemic embolism (SEE), hemorrhage, and composite end points (stroke/SEE/hemorrhage/death and stroke/SEE/death) among patients on DOACs and warfarin. Baseline kidney function was categorized as glomerular filtration rate (GFR) ≥ 60 (reference), 45-59, and < 45mL/min/1.73 m2 for participants in the Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulant Therapy (RE-LY) (n = 18,049), Apixaban for Reduction in Stroke and Other Thromboembolic Events (ARISTOTLE) (n = 18,187), and The Effective Anticoagulation with Factor Xa Next Generation in AF (ENGAGE AF) (n = 20,798) trials. Incidence of events was compared across GFR categories. Hazard ratios for events were estimated using Cox regression using intention-to-treat analysis adjusting for known predictors. A large proportion of participants had GFR < 60 (25-29% had 45 ≤ GFR < 60 and 9.5-12.6% with GFR < 45). Compared with patients with GFR ≥ 60, warfarin users across the trials with GFR ≥ 45-59 and GFR < 45 had a higher incidence of hemorrhage (P values < 0.0001) and warfarin users in the ARISTOTLE and ENGAGE trials had higher incidence of stroke/SEE (P values ≤ 0.05). Compared with patients with GFR ≥ 60, dabigatran users with GFR ≥ 45-59 and GFR < 45 had a higher incidence of stroke/SEE (P ≤ 0.02), hemorrhage (P < 0.001), and both composite end points (P < 0.0001). Compared with patients with GFR ≥ 60, apixaban and edoxaban users with GFR ≥ 45-59 and GFR < 45 had a higher incidence of hemorrhage (P values ≤ 0.05) and composite end points (P values ≤ 0.05). After adjustment, compared with patients with GFR ≥ 60, warfarin users with GFR < 60 in the ARISTOTLE and RE-LY trials had a higher risk of hemorrhage (P < 0.05), as did dabigatran (P < 0.001) and edoxaban (P ≤ 0.005) users, while apixaban users did not exhibit an increased risk (P = 0.08 GFR ≥ 45-59; P = 0.71 GFR < 45). Kidney function significantly influences the safety and efficacy of oral anticoagulants.