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Little is known about psychoactive substance use in students, apart from tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis. This study investigated the prevalence of substance use and overlap between various psychoactive substances in students. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 10 066 students included in the i-Share cohort between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2017. The baseline questionnaire was the key source of information. Psychoactive substances of interest (PSI) were cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines, nitrous oxide, poppers, and MDMA. Their patterns of use were categorized as lifetime, past year, and current use. The use of other psychoactive substances including alcohol and tobacco was described in PSI users and non-users. Most participants were female (75%), and their average age was 21 years. Lifetime use of at least one PSI was reported by 65.5% of participants. Cannabis was the most frequently used substance both over lifetime (57% of students) and past year (35%), followed by poppers and nitrous oxide (28% and 26% of students over lifetime, respectively). Among polydrug users (n = 1242), 65% used only nitrous oxide and poppers, showing a strong link between these two substances. Regular alcohol use, binge drinking, and current tobacco use were higher in PSI users than in non-users. Substance use was higher than previously found in both French and European studies in young people. Nitrous oxide use was particularly high. Regular alcohol use, binge drinking, and tobacco use could be used as markers to identify students at risk of PSI use to be targeted by prevention programs.

The results of national safety studies are essential for decision-making at the regulatory level and have also educational implications for prescribing patterns. The aim of this study was to analyze the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of analgesic medicines spontaneously reported to Pharmacovigilance and Risk Management Service of the Romanian National Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices between 2011 and 2015. For the 71 reports, patients had a mean age of 39.8 years; 60.6% of patients were female, and 38% male and 1.4% were unknown. Reporters were mainly physicians (74.7%), and 52.1% of ADR reports were transmitted through marketing authorization holders. Of the serious ADRs (32.4%), 34.7% led to hospitalization or prolonged hospitalization. The most frequent ADRs reported were skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders (25.8%) and general disorders and administration site conditions (19.2%). Metamizole, alone or in combination, was the main analgesic suspected in almost 15.5% of the cases and remains one of the most popular analgesics in Romania. Ten cases were assessed as preventable or potentially preventable (14%), of which two cases were serious. Even if the level of reporting is still low, this study conducted on ADRs of analgesics reported to the national pharmacovigilance center represents an essential step toward promoting the rational use of analgesics in Romania.

Metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is frequent among elderly patients. However, in the era of new targeted therapies, little is known about real-life mCRC treatment in this population. This study aimed to describe elderly mCRC patients and the current real-life treatment practices. mCRC patients aged ≥65 years were identified using the registry of multidisciplinary team meetings, mandatory for all cancer patients, held between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014 at the Bordeaux University Hospital. Data were collected from medical records using a standardized questionnaire. Treatment type was defined as follows: at least one anticancer medication administered vs. best supportive care (BSC). A total of 78 patients were included; median age was 74 years and the M/F sex ratio 1.6. Eleven patients (14.1%) were referred to a geriatric oncology consultation. One patient died before treatment initiation, 28 (35.9%) had BSC, and 49 (62.8%) were treated with anticancer medications: 20 (25.6%) had chemotherapy combined with a targeted therapy, and 28 (35.9%) chemotherapy alone (one missing data for treatment). Compared to patients treated with anticancer medications, BSC patients were older (P < 0.0001) and had more often metachronous metastases (P = 0.01), more comorbidities (P = 0.05), and a greater number of concomitant medications (P = 0.004). This study is one of the rare investigations providing insight to treatment practices in all elderly mCRC patients, not just those who receive anticancer medications. Our results suggest that efforts must be pursued to better integrate geriatric oncology in daily clinical practice.

Introduction of new agents for the treatment for colorectal cancer (CRC) has been accompanied by the publication of guidelines. The COLCHIC cohort was set up to evaluate CRC treatment practices and the use of these innovative and expensive agents. Patients initiating CRC treatment at the Bordeaux teaching hospital between 1 March 2005 and 1 March 2006 were identified, and treatment courses from 1 March 2005 to 31 December 2006 were studied; 192 patients were included, 188 with analysable data: 43 patients initiated 51 courses for non-metastatic cancer, 153 initiated 366 courses for metastatic cancer, eight patients initiated courses for both non-metastatic and metastatic cancer. Most treatments were used for indications found in guidelines published during the study (83.9%). Of the others, nearly half were approved in guidelines published subsequently. In this teaching hospital, prescribing practice was generally in line with recommendations, with an anticipation of future guidelines. This mostly concerned monoclonal antibodies, which were new at the time of the study.