The risk of developing cardiovascular disease is increased for patients with prostate cancer who are pharmaceutically treated for depression

Objective To examine the associations between pharmaceutically treated anxiety and depression and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) among 1‐year prostate cancer survivors. Patients and methods A registry‐based cohort study design was used to describe the risk of incident CVD in adult 1‐year prostate cancer survivors without a history of CVD. Patients with prostate cancer diagnosed between 1999 and 2011 were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Drug dispenses were retrieved from the PHARMO Database Network and were used as proxy for CVD, anxiety, and depression. Data were analysed using Cox regression analysis to examine the risk associations between pharmaceutically treated anxiety and depression entered as a time‐varying predictor with incident CVD in 1‐year prostate cancer survivors, while controlling for age, traditional CVD risk factors, and clinical characteristics. Results Of the 5262 prostate cancer survivors, 327 (6%) developed CVD during the 13‐year follow‐up period. Prostate cancer survivors who were pharmaceutically treated for depression had an increased risk of incident CVD after full adjustment compared to prostate cancer survivors who were not pharmaceutically treated for depression (hazard ratio [HR] 1.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06–2.15). The increased risk of incident CVD amongst those pharmaceutically treated for depression compared to those who were not pharmaceutically treated for depression, was only valid among: prostate cancer survivors who were aged ≤65 years (HR 2.91; 95% CI 1.52–5.55); those who were not treated with radiotherapy (HR 1.63; 95% CI 1.01–2.65); those who were treated with hormones (HR 1.76; 95% CI 1.09–2.85); those who were not operated upon (HR 1.55; 95% CI 1.07–2.25); and those with tumour stage III (HR 2.21; 95% CI 1.03–4.74) and stage IV (HR 2.47; 95% CI 1.03–5.89). Conclusion Patients with prostate cancer who were pharmaceutically treated for depression had a 51% increased risk of incident CVD after adjustment for anxiety, age, traditional CVD risk factors, and clinical characteristics. The results emphasise the need to pay attention to (pharmaceutically treated) depressed patients with prostate cancer prior to deciding on prostate cancer treatment and for a timely detection and treatment of CVD

The risk of developing cardiovascular disease is increased for patients with prostate cancer who are pharmaceutically treated for depression

Objective To examine the associations between pharmaceutically treated anxiety and depression and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) among 1‐year prostate cancer survivors. Patients and methods A registry‐based cohort study design was used to describe the risk of incident CVD in adult 1‐year prostate cancer survivors without a history of CVD. Patients with prostate cancer diagnosed between 1999 and 2011 were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Drug dispenses were retrieved from the PHARMO Database Network and were used as proxy for CVD, anxiety, and depression. Data were analysed using Cox regression analysis to examine the risk associations between pharmaceutically treated anxiety and depression entered as a time‐varying predictor with incident CVD in 1‐year prostate cancer survivors, while controlling for age, traditional CVD risk factors, and clinical characteristics. Results Of the 5262 prostate cancer survivors, 327 (6%) developed CVD during the 13‐year follow‐up period. Prostate cancer survivors who were pharmaceutically treated for depression had an increased risk of incident CVD after full adjustment compared to prostate cancer survivors who were not pharmaceutically treated for depression (hazard ratio [HR] 1.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06–2.15). The increased risk of incident CVD amongst those pharmaceutically treated for depression compared to those who were not pharmaceutically treated for depression, was only valid among: prostate cancer survivors who were aged ≤65 years (HR 2.91; 95% CI 1.52–5.55); those who were not treated with radiotherapy (HR 1.63; 95% CI 1.01–2.65); those who were treated with hormones (HR 1.76; 95% CI 1.09–2.85); those who were not operated upon (HR 1.55; 95% CI 1.07–2.25); and those with tumour stage III (HR 2.21; 95% CI 1.03–4.74) and stage IV (HR 2.47; 95% CI 1.03–5.89). Conclusion Patients with prostate cancer who were pharmaceutically treated for depression had a 51% increased risk of incident CVD after adjustment for anxiety, age, traditional CVD risk factors, and clinical characteristics. The results emphasise the need to pay attention to (pharmaceutically treated) depressed patients with prostate cancer prior to deciding on prostate cancer treatment and for a timely detection and treatment of CVD

Evaluation of isolation procedures and chromogenic agar media for the detection of MRSA in nasal swabs from pigs and veal calves.

Since the emergence of MRSA in livestock, screening of animals for the detection of MRSA is widely practised. Different procedures are published for animal samples but a systematic comparison of methods has not been performed. The objective of this study was to compare three available commonly used procedures and three chromogenic agars for detecting MRSA in nasal swabs from pigs (n=70) and veal calves (n=100). Procedures 1 and 2 used a pre-enrichment comprising Mueller Hinton broth with 6.5% NaCl followed by selective enrichment with 4 microg/ml oxacillin+75 microg/ml aztreonam (procedure 1) and 5 microg/ml ceftizoxime+75 microg/ml aztreonam (procedure 2) respectively. Procedure 3 used a selective enrichment broth only, containing 4% NaCl, 5 microg/ml ceftizoxime+50 microg/ml aztreonam. After selective enrichment, media were streaked on to three different chromogenic agars. Significantly more MRSA were found for pig as well as for veal calf samples with procedures 1 and 2. No significant differences were found between procedures 1 and 2. For nasal swabs from pigs significantly more MRSA-positive samples were found when MRSA Screen (Oxoid) or MRSASelect (Bio-Rad) agars were used compared to MSRA ID (bioMerieux). For calf samples no significant differences between the different agars were found. In conclusion, the results of this study show that procedures 1 and 2, both using additional high salt pre-enrichment are superior and should be recommended for MRSA detection in nasal swabs from pigs and veal calves. The preferred choice of chromogenic agar depends on the sample matrix