Urgent Updates | October 31, 2024

Order Set Cuts Antibiotic Use for Pediatric Ear Infections in Half

An order set was created to automatically choose 5-day antibiotic courses for ear infections. The proportion of patients receiving 5-day antibiotic courses rose from 3% to 83% during the study period. Overall antibiotic use was cut in half due to the increase in shorter courses. Full Access: Helio

Triptans Outperform Newer Migraine Drugs, Meta-Analysis Finds

The meta-analysis was based on 137 double-blind, randomized clinical trials of almost 90,000 participants aged 18 years or older with a diagnosis of migraine. About 86% of them were females. Although all the drugs were effective compared with placebos, the triptans eletriptan, rizatriptan, sumatriptan and zolmitriptan were better at relieving pain than such newer drugs as lasmiditan, rimegepant and ubrogepant. The last three drugs were about as effective as paracetamol (acetaminophen), the researchers noted. The results suggest that triptans, which are underused, should be the preferred acute treatment for migraine. Full Access: JAMA

Black Children Almost Three Times More Likely to Die from Sepsis in U.S.

Deaths related to bacterial sepsis decreased from 1.7 per 100,000 children in 1999 to 1.2 per 100,000 children in 2019. Black children were 2.7 times more likely to die from sepsis compared with white children. Full Access: Helio

Ozempic May Be the New Treatment for Opioid and Alcohol Use Disorder

A new study published has found that people with opioid or alcohol use disorder (OUD, AUD) who take Ozempic or similar medications to treat diabetic/weight-related conditions appear to have a 40% lower rate of opioid overdose and a 50% lower rate of alcohol intoxication than people with OUD and AUD who do not take Ozempic or similar medications. GIP agonists and GLP-1RAs were tied to lower rates of opioid overdose and alcohol intoxication. The data suggest these drugs could serve as adjunct therapy for substance use disorders. Full Access: Addiction Journal

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