Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Aliso Viejo, Calif, recently announced the results from its PRISM Registry Program, which is intended to accurately determine the prevalence of pseudobullar effect (PBA) among at-risk populations with underlying neurologic conditions such as stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The results from the program, which was launched last year, are released in conjunction with the National Stroke Association’s campaign “Faces of Stroke,” designed to bring awareness to stroke and its resulting disorders, such as PBA, reports a recent news release. The release notes that in the “PRISM Registry: A Novel Research Tool to Determine the Prevalence of Pseudobulbar Affect,” researchers sought to estimate the PBA prevalence and its impact on quality of life (QoL) across disease states commonly linked to PBA using a registry.
Multiple methods were reportedly used for estimating the condition’s prevalence among patient populations that included amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke, MS, and TBI. To acquire data for the registry, Avanir notes patients completed the CNS-LS, a PBA a screening tool validated in ALS and MS, and a QoL measure. Demographic/disease characteristics were also collected and patient data entered via the Web portal.
A total of 585 registered sites nationwide were included in the registry, with 239 activated sites, 80 active sites, 159 active enrolling sites, and a patient enrollment of 4,349, according to the release.
The registry’s results note that researchers were able to estimate PBA symptom prevalence by CNS-LS Threshold. The percentages accounted for included 46.3% of ALS patients, 45.3% of MS patients, 52.9% of TBI patients, and 31% of stroke patients. Data gathered also demonstrated the impact of participants’ neurologic condition on quality of life by CNS-LS Threshold.
Avanir acknowledges the registry’s limitations, including that the results are interim data from an ongoing project, patients were not screened for depression, and patients in the registry were not clinically diagnosed with PBA, rather symptoms were identified using the CNS-LS.
Ultimately, researchers conclude that the PRISM registry has the potential to serve as a useful tool for estimating the national prevalence of PBA symptoms and add that the high prevalence of PBA symptoms in at-risk populations spotlights the need for greater education regarding detection of PBA in at-risk populations.
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Source: Avanir Pharmaceuticals