A third on vulnerable contraception also took a drug that weakens it

The edition in brief

The edition closes on a US Medicaid study of nearly 111,000 people with epilepsy of childbearing potential. Among those prescribed hormonal contraception vulnerable to enzyme induction, 32.6% overlapped for at least two weeks with an enzyme-inducing antiseizure drug, for a median of 218 days. Intellectual disability, drug-resistant epilepsy and age over 35 raised the odds. A Swedish registry study of 9251 people with relapsing MS found rituximab was associated with inflammatory bowel disease at about 110 per 100,000 person-years, against 13 on other modern therapies and 41 in the general population, with Crohn disease predominating; the number needed to harm at five years was 131. A meta-analysis of 17 studies found argatroban added to antiplatelet therapy did not improve the chance of functional independence after ischaemic stroke, though it was associated with less early neurological deterioration; randomised trials showed more bleeding. In 5225 Whitehall II participants followed for 12 years, blood p-tau217 was the best single predictor of dementia, but sensitivity and positive predictive value were modest and a risk-factor model did about as well. The pearl covers early neurological deterioration after stroke.