OBJECTIVE:To provide reference for rational drug use in elderly patients with depression. METHODS:A total of 96 elderly outpatients and inpatients with depression were selected from 39 mental health institutions of Hebei province during Jul. 2nd to 9th,2012. The drug use were surveyed by using self-made questionnaires on the basis of prescriptions/medical orders. The results of investigation were analyzed statistically. RESULTS:In this study,96 questionnaires were distributed and all were collect-ed with effective recovery rate of 100%. Among 96 respondents,95 elderly patients used a new type of antidepressants,mainly by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors(SSRIs),accounting for 75.0% of the total. The top 5 drugs in the list of use frequency were sertraline(23 cases,24.0%,daily dose:25-200 mg),paroxetine(22 cases,22.9%,daily dose:20-60 mg),escitalopram(20 cas-es,20.8%,daily dose:5-40 mg),venlafaxine (13 cases,13.5%,daily dose:75-300 mg),mirtazapine (12 cases,12.5%,daily dose:8-30 mg). Among all respondents,22 patients (22.9%) were treated with mono-antidepressant and the other 74 patients (77.1%) were treated with drug combination therapy among which 47 cases were treated with two antidepressant drugs,22 were treated with three drugs,4 were treated with four drugs and 1 was treated with five drugs. 6 cases combined with mood stabilizers, 21 cases with antipsychotic,50 cases with benzodiazepine(6 of them combined with two benzodiazepine),2 cases with other hyp-notic drugs,14 cases with anxiolytic drugs and 2 cases with anticholinergic drugs. CONCLUSIONS:The drug use of elderly pa-tients with depression in mental health institutions of Hebei province basically in line with current trends. However,there are still the phenomenon of irrational drug use as drug dose meets or exceeds the prescribed maximum dose;many varieties are used in combination therapy;route of administration is improper.

BACKGROUND: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is one of the driver genes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Several studies have shown that the efficacy of pemetrexed in HER2-mutant NSCLC is controversial. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of pemetrexed combined with platinum chemotherapy in patients with HER2-mutant and HER2 wild-type lung adenocarcinoma. METHODS: The clinical data of 106 cases of EGFR, ALK, ROS-1, KRAS, BRAF, RET and MET-negative patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients who diagnosed by histopathology in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were retrospectively reviewed. The relationships between HER2 gene status, clinical characteristics and response and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed. RESULTS: All of the 106 patients' HER2 status were determined. HER2 mutations occurred in 32 cases (30.2%), no mutations in 74 cases (69.8%). HER2 mutations were common in young, non-smoking and female patients. All patients received first-line pemetrexed and platinum-based chemotherapy. The objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) of patients with HER2-mutant lung adenocarcinoma were significantly higher than those without HER2 mutations (40.6% vs 14.9%, χ²=8.464, P=0.004; 93.8% vs 68.9%, χ²=6.327, P=0.012), and the difference was statistically significant. According to univariate analysis, the PFS was significantly associated with the brain metastases, maintenance chemotherapy and HER2 gene status (P<0.05), but not with age, gender, smoking history, oligometastases, liver metastases and type of platinum (P>0.05). Cox multivariate analysis indicated that HER2 mutation was an independent positive prognostic factor of PFS (P=0.038). CONCLUSIONS HER2-mutant lung adenocarcinoma patients with first-line pemetrexed combined with platinum chemotherapy have greater clinical benefit than HER2 wild-type patients.
Adenocarcinoma of Lung ; drug therapy ; genetics ; pathology ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Genes, erbB-2 ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; Pemetrexed ; therapeutic use ; Platinum ; therapeutic use ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND: Adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer. It has been clinically evaluated that therapiestargeting against the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) as the clinical standard first-line treatment. The response and outcome of EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in patients harboring common mutations in EGFR kinase domain (deletion in exon19 and L858R in exon 21) has been well demonstrated, but not in rare or complex mutations. METHODS: A total of 150 patients that harbored rare or complex mutations in EGFR diagnosed by histopathology were included in this retrospective study. The clinical-pathological characteristics of all 150 patients as well as the response and progression-free survival (PFS) in 48 patients that received EGFR-TKIs in first/second/third line treatments weredescribed and analyzed. RESULTS: Patients were divided into four groups based on the mutation types: single G719X point mutation in exon 18 (n=46, 30.7%), single L861Q point mutation in exon 21 (n=45, 30.0%), other single rare mutation (n=14, 9.3%) and complex mutations (n=45, 30.0%). The result indicated thatthere was no correlation of EGFR mutation typeswith other parameters such as gender, age, clinical stage, pathology and smoking history. For the 48 patients that received EGFR-TKIs treatment, there were no significant differencesamong 4 groups in terms of objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) (54.5% vs 30.0% vs 0.0% vs 35.7%, χ²=3.200, P=0.34; 90.9% vs 85.0% vs 66.7% vs 92.9%, χ²=2.162, P=0.59). The median progress-free survival (mPFS) was 11.0 months (95%CI: 4.4-17.6), and in each group of different EGFR mutation types are 15.8 months (95%CI: 9.5-22.2), 8.0 months (95%CI: 5.1-11.0), 4.9 months (95%CI: 1.4-8.4) and 23.1 months (95%CI: 15.8-30.4)(χ²=7.876, P=0.049). CONCLUSIONS The efficiency of targeting EGFR-TKIs on different types of rare or complex mutations was heterogeneous. The PFS may be better in patients that harbored complex mutations than those with single rare mutations. Further studies with larger sample size are necessary. Moreover, to discover novel therapeutic targets and develop new drugs are imminentfor those patientswith no response to the existing treatments.
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Disease-Free Survival ; ErbB Receptors ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics ; Exons ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; Protein Kinase Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome