fluticasone and Vitamin-D-Deficiency

Lyme disease (LD) is the most common tick-borne illness in the United States. Although appropriate antibiotic treatment is effective for most cases, up to 20% of patients develop post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). There is an urgent need to improve clinical management of LD using precise understanding of disease and patient stratification. We applied machine-learning to electronic medical records to better characterize the heterogeneity of LD and developed predictive models for identifying medications that are associated with risks of subsequent comorbidities. For broad disease categories, we identified 3, 16, and 17 comorbidities within 2, 5, and 10 years of diagnosis, respectively. At a higher resolution of ICD-9 codes, we identified known associations with LD including chronic pain and cognitive disorders, as well as particular comorbidities on a timescale that matched PTLDS symptomology. We identified 7, 30, and 35 medications associated with risks of these comorbidities within 2, 5, and 10 years, respectively. For instance, the first-line antibiotic doxycycline exhibited a consistently protective association for typical symptoms of LD, including backache. Our approach and findings may suggest new hypotheses for more personalized treatments regimens for LD patients.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Comorbidity; Doxycycline; Electronic Health Records; Female; Fluticasone; Humans; Logistic Models; Lyme Disease; Machine Learning; Male; Middle Aged; Mometasone Furoate; New York City; Risk Factors; Survival Analysis; Vitamin D Deficiency

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) demonstrate variable responses to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). The factors contributing to this variability are not well understood. Data from patients with asthma have suggested that low 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels contribute to a lack of ICS response in asthma. The objective of this study was to determine whether serum levels of 25(OH)D were related to ICS responses in patients with COPD.. A total of 60 exsmokers with severe COPD (mean forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV(1)] 1.07 L, 36% of predicted) spent 4 weeks free of any ICS, followed by 4 weeks of ICS use (fluticasone propionate 500 μg twice daily). Spirometry was performed prior to and after 4 weeks of ICS use. Blood 25(OH)D levels were measured prior to ICS use and examined for relationships to changes in FEV(1) following the 4 weeks of ICS use.. The mean 25(OH)D level was 23.3 ± 9.3 ng/mL. There was a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency (35%) and deficiency (40%). There was no relationship between baseline 25(OH)D and changes in FEV(1) following 4 weeks of ICS.. Baseline 25(OH)D does not contribute to the variation in short-term FEV(1) responses to ICS in patients with severe COPD.

Topics: Administration, Inhalation; Aged; Androstadienes; Bronchodilator Agents; Female; Fluticasone; Forced Expiratory Volume; Humans; Lung; Male; Middle Aged; Minnesota; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; Severity of Illness Index; Spirometry; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Vitamin D; Vitamin D Deficiency