To assess the relationship between programme attendance in a produce prescription (PRx) programme and changes in cardiovascular risk factors.

The Georgia Food for Health (GF4H) programme provided six monthly nutrition education sessions, six weekly cooking classes and weekly produce vouchers. Participants became programme graduates attending at least 4 of the 6 of both the weekly cooking classes and monthly education sessions. We used a longitudinal, single-arm approach to estimate the association between the number of monthly programme visits attended and changes in health indicators.

GF4H was implemented in partnership with a large safety-net health system in Atlanta, GA.

Three hundred thirty-one participants living with or at-risk of chronic disease and food insecurity were recruited from primary care clinics. Over three years, 282 participants graduated from the programme.

After adjusting for programme site, year, participant sex, age, race and ethnicity, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation and household size, we estimated that each additional programme visit attended beyond four visits was associated with a 0·06 kg/m2 reduction in BMI (95 % CI –0·12, –0·01; P = 0·02), a 0·37 inch reduction in waist circumference (95 % CI –0·48, –0·27; P < 0·001), a 1·01 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure (95 % CI –1·45, –0·57; P < 0·001) and a 0·43 mmHg reduction in diastolic blood pressure (95 % CI –0·69, –0·17; P = 0·001).

Each additional cooking and nutrition education visit attended beyond the graduation threshold was associated with modest but significant improvements in CVD risk factors, suggesting that increased engagement in educational components of a PRx programme improves health outcomes.

Outpatient antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) is managed by a variety of teams, but primarily through an infectious disease clinic. At our medical center, OPAT monitoring is performed telephonically by pharmacists through a collaborative practice agreement under the supervision of an infectious disease physician. The effect of telephonic monitoring of OPAT by pharmacists on patient outcomes is unknown.

This retrospective cohort study was conducted between July 2017 and July 2018 at a 350-bed academic medical center and included adult patients discharged home on IV antibiotics or oral linezolid. The experimental group comprised patients discharged with a consultation for the OPAT management program, whereas the control group comprised patients discharged home without a consultation. The primary outcome was 30-day readmission.

In total, 399 patients were included: 243 patients in the OPAT management program group and 156 patients in the control group. The 30-day readmission rates were similar in each cohort (20% vs 19%; P = .8193); however, the 30-day readmission rates were lower in the OPAT management program for patients discharged on vancomycin (19.4% vs 39.1%; P = .004).

We did not find a difference in 30-day readmissions between patients receiving pharmacy-driven OPAT management services and those who did not. Patients receiving vancomycin via OPAT had lower 30-day readmissions when included in the pharmacist-driven OPAT management program. Institutions with limited resources may consider reserving OPAT management services for patients receiving antimicrobials that require pharmacokinetic dosing and/or close monitoring.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a devastating rare disease that affects individuals regardless of ethnicity, gender, and age. The first-approved disease-modifying therapy for SMA, nusinursen, was approved by Health Canada, as well as by American and European regulatory agencies following positive clinical trial outcomes. The trials were conducted in a narrow pediatric population defined by age, severity, and genotype. Broad approval of therapy necessitates close follow-up of potential rare adverse events and effectiveness in the larger real-world population.

The Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry (CNDR) undertook an iterative multi-stakeholder process to expand the existing SMA dataset to capture items relevant to patient outcomes in a post-marketing environment. The CNDR SMA expanded registry is a longitudinal, prospective, observational study of patients with SMA in Canada designed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of novel therapies and provide practical information unattainable in trials.

The consensus expanded dataset includes items that address therapy effectiveness and safety and is collected in a multicenter, prospective, observational study, including SMA patients regardless of therapeutic status. The expanded dataset is aligned with global datasets to facilitate collaboration. Additionally, consensus dataset development aimed to standardize appropriate outcome measures across the network and broader Canadian community. Prospective outcome studies, data use, and analyses are independent of the funding partner.

Prospective outcome data collected will provide results on safety and effectiveness in a post-therapy approval era. These data are essential to inform improvements in care and access to therapy for all SMA patients.