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Background: Despite the well‐established efficacies of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)‐mutated non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), there is limited real‐world evidence comparing their effectiveness according to patients' clinical characteristics. This network meta‐analysis (NMA) compared survival outcomes among first‐line EGFR‐TKIs in different subgroups of East Asian patients with advanced NSCLC. Methods: This NMA included real‐world observational studies reporting outcomes with TKIs in patients aged >65 years, with baseline brain metastasis, with different Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) statuses, or with different common EGFR mutation types. Results: In patients with the EGFR L858R mutation, afatinib resulted in significantly longer progression‐free survival (PFS) than erlotinib (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.59, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.46–0.75) and gefitinib (HR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.32–0.53). Similarly, in patients with the EGFR Del19 mutation, afatinib and erlotinib resulted in significantly longer PFS than gefitinib (HR: 0.48 with 95% CI: 0.33–0.71 and HR: 0.54 with 95% CI: 0.36–0.80, respectively). Moreover, afatinib resulted in significantly longer PFS than gefitinib in patients with brain metastasis (HR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.33–0.87) or ECOG status 0–1 (HR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.23–0.59). Conclusion: This NMA suggests that afatinib results in similar PFS to erlotinib and superior PFS than gefitinib in patients with Del19 mutant NSCLC, aged ≥65 years, with ECOG scores of 0–1, and with baseline brain metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An additional affiliation is missing for the first author. Chun-Yin Hou is also affiliated with the Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.By Chun-Yin Hou; Ru Rutherford; Hsi Chang; Fong-Ching Chang; Liu Shumei; Chiung-Hui Chiu; Ping-Hung Chen; Jeng-Tung Chiang; Nae-Fang Miao; Hung-Yi Chuang and Chie-Chien TsengReported by Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author [Extracted from the article]

Background: Lip lentigines are benign pigmentations often raising concerns to physicians and patients for fear of malignancy. Specific dermoscopic patterns of lip (mucosal) lentigines have not been clearly defined in the literature when compared to common facial (nonmucosal) lentigines. Objectives: This study aimed to define key dermoscopic features of lip lentigines to help diagnose these benign lesions more efficiently by calculating the specificity, sensitivity, and positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV) of dermoscopic patterns in lip and nonlip facial lentigines. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted at a medical center in Southern Taiwan. Dermoscopic images of 12 patients with lip lentigines and seven patients with 12 facial nonlip lentigines were inspected. Pattern recognition was performed via blind review by three clinicians. Dermoscopic images were assessed side by side with 12 published dermoscopic patterns of pigmented lesions, to see whether the patterns were presented. Results: Four dermoscopic patterns (hyphal, overlapping vessels, parallel lines, and fish-scale-like) showed very high specificity and PPV (all 100%) in lip lentigines when compared to facial nonlip lentigines. The sensitivity of these four patterns was 83%, 83%, 67%, and 58% and their NPV was 86%, 86%, 75%, and 71%, accordingly. Interrater consistency analysis from pattern recognition showed good consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.814) among reviewers. Conclusion: Hyphal, overlapping vessels, parallel lines, and fish-scale-like patterns are specific and sensitive dermoscopic patterns of lip lentigines when compared to facial nonlip lentigines. This knowledge of site-specific dermoscopic patterns could be used in characterizing benign and malignant pigmented lesions of the lip in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Poor adherence to antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia is a leading cause of relapse and functional deterioration. Long-acting injectable paliperidone may reduce relapse risks, health-care utilisation, and health-care costs in these patients., Methods: In this 24-month mirror-image study, we compared health-care utilization and costs before and after the initiation of paliperidone palmitate 3-monthly (PP3M) treatment in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Before the initiation of PP3M, the patients received paliperidone 1-monthly (PP1M) treatment. The primary study outcomes were changes in health-care utilisation and costs over the study period., Results: This study included 34 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. During the 12-months period after the initiation of PP3M treatment, the mean duration of hospitalisation decreased from 57.7 to 28.5 days (p = 0.03). Moreover, significant reductions were noted in emergency room visits (PP1M vs PP3M: 0.3 vs 0.0, respectively; p = 0.05) and health-care costs (PP1M vs PP3M: 107,328.8 vs 57,848.6, respectively; p = 0.03)., Conclusion: PP3M may significantly reduce hospitalisation duration, emergency room visits, and health-care costs in patients with schizophrenia., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest related to the current work., (© 2024 Chang et al.)

Introduction: Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among adolescents has become increasingly common; therefore, effectively reducing adolescent e-cigarette use is an urgent issue. We aimed to predict and identify potential factors related to adolescent e-cigarette use behaviors., Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using anonymous questionnaires given to Taiwanese high school students in 2020. Approximately 1,289 adolescent students completed questions on e-cigarette use, personal characteristics, family environment, and substances used. We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess the model's predictive performance in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve., Results: We found that 9.3% of adolescent students used e-cigarettes. Tobacco smoking, close friends' reactions to e-cigarette use, and the use of other substances were independent risk factors for adolescent e-cigarette use. Furthermore, relative to tobacco nonuse, tobacco use and tobacco smoking dependence had odds ratios of 76.49 and 113.81, respectively. The predictive accuracy of adolescent e-cigarette use from personal characteristics, family environment, and substance use status was 73.13, 75.91, and 93.80%, respectively., Conclusion: The present study highlights the need for early prevention of e-cigarette use among adolescents, particularly those with a history of using tobacco and other substances and those who have close friends with positive attitudes towards e-cigarette use., (Copyright © 2023 Liu, Lin, Ho, Tsai, Yang, Wu and Chuang.)