Cannabidiol anti-seizure effect maintained for five years
The efficacy of cannabidiol in reducing seizures among patients with refractory epilepsies is maintained during treatment up to 60 months, a US study has shown.
A retrospective review of records for 54 people with refractory epilepsy who enrolled in the cannabidiol treatment program at Massachusetts General Hospital’s found that the percentage of seizure responders (42%), remained similar at one to five years (median 45.5 months) and the seizure response rate was also maintained.
The review found that cannabidiol was particularly effective for controlling seizures in the setting of tuberous sclerosis complex and for reducing epileptic spasms and absence seizures.
Cannabidiol use did not lead to an overall decrease in concomitant anti-epileptic drugs but most patients reduced the dose of at least one concomitant AED compared to baseline.
Publishing their findings in Epilepsia, the study investigators noted that as in shorter duration studies, cannabidiol was generally well tolerated, with drowsiness and diarrhea as the primary adverse reactions.
Stroke risk from hypertension in pregnancy
Hypertensive disorders during pregnancy are associated with increased risks of stroke in offspring up to the fourth decade after birth, according to findings from a European study.
Rates of ischaemic stroke were assessed for more than 5.8 million people of whom 3.76% were born to mothers with hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. During up to 41 years of follow-up, 0.1% were diagnosed with stroke.
Offspring exposed to maternal hypertensive pregnancy disorders had 29% and 33% increased risks of ischaemic heart disease and stroke, respectively. In sibling analyses, the association remained for stroke suggesting the possibility of a direct intrauterine effects rather than shared genetic or environmental factors as being the main contributors to the association.
Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden presented the findings at the European Society of Cardiology.
Neurological disease burden high in older Australians
Neurological conditions are one of the leading causes of burden for older Australians after cardiovascular disease and cancer, a new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows.
For people over the age of 65, neurological conditions such as dementia accounted for 11% of total Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY), second only to cardiovascular and cancer (24%).
The burden of neurological conditions was 20 percentage points higher for women than men and increased with age.
Dementia was not one of the top 10 leading diseases for men or women aged 65–69 years, but was 5th leading disease for peple aged 75-79 and second thereafter.
The rate of total burden due to dementia increased from 16 to 219 per 1,000 men aged 70–74 and 100 years and older, respectively, and from 18 to 319 per 1,000 women of the same age range.