Aims To estimate the risk of, and risk factors for, hyponatraemia associated with the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) compared with the use of other antidepressant drugs. Methods A case-control study of psychiatric in-and out-patients on antidepressant drugs performed in the mid-southern part of The Netherlands over a 2 year period. Cases (n=29) were all using antidepressant drugs with a serum sodium concentration of j130 mmol l x1 while controls (n=78) were patients on antidepressants with a normal sodium concentration (136-144 mmol l x1). Information on blood sodium concentrations was obtained from clinical chemistry data while information on drug use was obtained from community and hospital pharmacy databases. Medical records were used to ascertain possible risk and confounding factors. Unconditional multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios for hyponatraemia in patients on SSRIs compared with patients on other antidepressant drugs. Results SSRIs were associated with an increased risk of hyponatraemia (OR 3.3; 95% CI 1.3, 8.6) compared with other classes of antidepressant drugs. Stratified and interaction analyses revealed that elderly patients using diuretics concomitantly with SSRIs were at the highest risk of experiencing hyponatraemia (OR 13.5; 95% CI 1.8, 101). Conclusions SSRIs are more frequently associated with hyponatraemia than other classes of antidepressant drugs. This adverse drug reaction was more common in older patients (i65 years) and in those using diuretics.
A new ecstasy-like substance, meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP), has been detected in street drugs in the Netherlands. Theoretically, mCPP possesses the potential to become a non-neurotoxic alternative for methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), the regular psychoactive substance of ecstasy. Since its introduction on the Dutch market of synthetic drugs, the percentage of mCPP-containing tablets has increased, including both tablets that contain only mCPP and tablets containing a combination of mCPP and MDMA. These tablets occur in many different colours, shapes and sizes and with various logos, making it impossible to distinguish mCPP-containing tablets from regular MDMA tablets. In addition, the reports of users concerning the effects of mCPP are predominantly negative. All these aspects together lead to the conclusion that mCPP is an undesired addition to the ecstasy market from the user's perspective.
The index of individuality is defined as the ratio of the within-subject biological variation to the between-subject variation, i.e., the variation between the biological set-points. It has been disputed whether the index of individuality has influence on the usefulness of conventional population-based reference intervals. In this investigation we found that, as long as only a single sample is taken, for a certain change in an individual's set-point, the index of individuality has no influence on the usefulness of reference intervals. When two or more samples are taken into account, however, the outcome of the measurement is highly dependent on the index of individuality. For a low index, repeat measurement has only limited effect on the fraction of false-positive results, as the next result will be close to the first, but, when the index is high, the fraction of false-positive results will be reduced considerably through repeating the test. Moreover, the distribution of biological set-points for which the fraction of false-positive results originate is described and the influence of analytical imprecision is discussed. The calculations are performed for values of the index of individuality from 0 to 2.0 for the traditional 95% reference interval based on x +/- 2*s(total) (s(total) = total biological variation), and also for a decision limit (cut-off point) x +/- 3*s(total). The numbers are, of course, different, but the effects of the index of individuality are the same, independent of the chosen cut-off point. This concept is related to the clinical classification (diagnosis, prognosis, screening) and the difference from different principles of monitoring is discussed. Further, five examples are evaluated and aspects of index of individuality in relation to false-positive results are discussed.
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