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Background: Schizophrenia is associated with high health care resource utilization and treatment costs. Objective: This study compared treatment patterns, health care resource utilization, and medical costs before and after a switch from oral antipsychotic drug (risperidone or paliperidone [RIS/PALI]) therapy to the long-acting injectable once-monthly paliperidone palmitate (PP1M) in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Data for adult patients (aged ≥18 years) with at least 1 diagnosis of schizophrenia who initiated treatment with oral RIS/PALI ≥6 months before switching and had continuous health plan enrollment during the study period before and after the switch were extracted from the Veterans Health Administration database. Treatment patterns, health care resource utilization, and costs were compared between the period 6 or 12 months before and after switching directly from oral RIS/PALI to PP1M. Results: The analysis included 676 and 493 patients in the 6-month and 12-month cohorts, respectively. Adherence to oral RIS/PALI during the 12 months preswitch was 11.0% and 22.1% as measured by proportion of days covered and medication possession ratio ≥80%, respectively. During the 12 months postswitch, adherence to PP1M was 27.0% and 35.9%, respectively. Among patients treated with oral RIS/PALI, from 12 months pre- to 12 months post-PP1M switch, fewer all-cause inpatient stays (2.2 vs 1.1, respectively; P

Background Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhea in children worldwide. We systematically reviewed the burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) and distribution of rotavirus strains in Asia. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and the World Health Organization (WHO) website for the term “rotavirus” and the name of each country. We included studies that were conducted in children between 2000 and 2011 and that examined the epidemiology, health and/or economic burden of RVGE, and G and P-type distribution in Eastern, South East, Southern and Central Asia. Random effects models were used to pool the proportions of RVGE. We also estimated child mortality due to RVGE using the updated WHO and United Nations Children's Fund's mortality estimates in 2008. Results The search identified 113 eligible articles. The incidence rates of rotavirus-related hospitalizations in children under 5 years of age ranged from 2.1 to 20.0 cases per 1000 children per year with the highest rates reported in Bangladesh, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Rotavirus accounted for 37.5% of year-round hospitalized gastroenteritis cases, with higher proportions reported in South East Asia. Rotavirus was associated with approximately 145,000 deaths every year in Asia, with the greatest numbers occurring in India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. The highest annual societal costs of treating RVGE were reported in China (US$365 million), followed by Japan (US$254 million) and India (US$41–72 million). A diversity of rotavirus G and P-types was observed across Asia and the distribution of strains differed by country and year. The most common strains were G1P[8] (23.6%), G2P[4] (11.8%), G3P[8] (18.9%), and G9P[8] (7.4%). Conclusions Rotavirus is associated with substantial hospitalizations and deaths among children and causes large healthcare expenditures throughout Asia. Safe and effective rotavirus vaccines could substantially reduce the burden of disease.

stimulation with HCV NS 4 antigen responders had significantly higher IL-17 and IFNgamma response (p