1.
Efficacy of intradiscal injection of platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of discogenic low back pain: A single-arm meta-analysis
Peng B, Xu B, Wu W, Du L, Zhang T, Zhang J
Medicine. 2023;102(10):e33112
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Discogenic low back pain (DLBP) has been influencing people's quality of life. Research on platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for DLBP has increased in recent years, but systematic summaries are lacking. This study analyzes all published studies related to the use of intradiscal injection of PRP for the treatment of DLBP and summarizes evidence-based medicine for the efficacy of this biologic treatment for DLBP. METHODS Articles published from the inception of the database to April 2022 were retrieved from PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, ClinicalTrial, the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, Chongqing VIP Chinese Scientific Journals, and the Chinese Biomedicine databases. After the rigorous screening of all studies on PRP for DLBP, a meta-analysis was performed. RESULTS Six studies, including 3 randomized controlled trials and 3 prospective single-arm trials, were included. According to this meta-analysis, pain scores decreased by >30% and >50% from baseline, with incidence rates of 57.3%, 50.7%, and 65.6%, and 51.0%, 53.1%, and 51.9%, respectively, after 1, 2, and 6 months of treatment. The Oswestry Disability Index scores decreased by >30% with an incidence rate of 40.2% and by >50% with an incidence rate of 53.9% from baseline after 2 and 6 months, respectively. Pain scores decreased significantly after 1, 2, and 6 months of treatment (standardized mean difference: 1 month, -1.04, P = .02; 2 months, -1.33, P = .003; and 6 months, -1.42, P = .0008). There was no significant change (P > .05) in the pain scores and the incidence rate when pain scores decreased by >30% and >50% from baseline between 1 and 2 months, 1 and 6 months, and 2 and 6 months after treatment. No significant adverse reactions occurred in any of the 6 included studies. CONCLUSION Intradiscal injection of PRP is effective and safe in the treatment of DLBP, and there was no significant change in the patient's pain 1, 2, and 6 months after PRP treatment. However, confirmation is required by additional high-quality studies due to the limitations of the quantity and quality of the included studies.
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The impact of ABO blood group on COVID-19 infection risk and mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Liu N, Zhang T, Ma L, Zhang H, Wang H, Wei W, Pei H, Li H
Blood Reviews. 2020;:100785
Abstract
The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic. Several studies report that ABO blood group polymorphism may be related to COVID-19 susceptibility and clinical outcomes; however, the results are controversial. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate whether ABO blood groups are associated with increased COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. A total of 715 articles were retrieved from seven databases. Ten articles were selected for meta-analysis after removal of duplicates and two levels of screenings. Overall, individuals with blood group A [odds ratio (OR) = 1.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14 to 1.56] and B (OR = 1.06, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.13) had a substantially higher risk of COVID-19, whereas this was not the case for blood group AB (OR = 1.07, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.30). Individuals with blood group O was not prone to develop the disease (OR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.84). Moreover, the risk of COVID-19 was significantly associated with the Rh-positive blood group (OR = 1.22, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.50). A meta-analysis of 5 studies suggested that blood group A was associated with a significantly increased risk of COVID-19 mortality (OR = 1.25, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.52). Mild publication bias was found in the included studies. This systematic review and meta-analysis indicated that blood groups A and B may be risk factors for COVID-19, whereas the blood group O appears to be protective. Blood group A may be related to unfavourable outcomes. Further rigorous and high-quality research evidence is needed to confirm this association.
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Thrombospondin-2 predicts response to treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin in children with Kawasaki disease
Yang S, Song R, Li X, Zhang T, Fu J, Cui X
Bmj Paediatrics Open. 2018;2((1)):e000190.. Autoimmune Diseases
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the predictive value of thrombospondin-2 (TSP-2) in assessing the response to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) in children with acute Kawasaki disease (KD). Methods: This was a cohort study with controls. 71 children with KD were recruited as the case group, including IVIG non-responder (n=17) and IVIG responder (n=54), and healthy children (n=27) and febrile children (n=30) were used as control groups. ELISA was used to measure plasma TSP-2 and TSP-1 levels. The rank-sum test was used to compare groups of non-normally distributed data. Predictive value was evaluated through the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: Compared with the control groups, the plasma TSP-2 levels in acute KD were significantly elevated (TSP-2: 31.00 (24.02, 39.28) vs 21.93 (17.00, 24.73) vs 16.23 (14.00, 19.64) ng/mL, P<0.001). The plasma TSP-2 level in the IVIG non-responder was significantly higher than the responder group (37.58 (31.86, 43.98) vs 27.84 (21.88, 33.48) ng/mL, P=0.002). When using an ROC curve to analyse the predictive effect of TSP-2 on non-responsiveness to IVIG treatment, the area under the curve was 0.752 (0.630, 0.875) (P=0.002). When the cut-off value for TSP-2 was 31.50 ng/mL, the sensitivity was 82.35%, the specificity was 64.81%. Conclusion: The plasma TSP-2 level was elevated in acute KD and it might be a novel predictor for IVIG resistance, which could help guide clinicians to choose individualised initial therapeutic regimens.