Sauver, Jennifer St.

Objectives: To investigate the association between hormone therapy use and severe outcomes due to COVID-19 in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Methods: Using the Rochester Epidemiology Project, we retrospectively searched for the records of women aged 40-65 years who had a documented case of COVID-19 between March 12 and September 29, 2020. We further identified those who were perimenopausal or postmenopausal. The rates of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths were compared by hormone therapy use. Logistic regression models were used to assess the odds of the combined outcome based on hormone therapy use. Results: Among the 689 patients included in this study, the median age was 56 years, and 77.5% were White. Compared with patients currently using hormone therapy, those with past/never use of hormone therapy were significantly older, had more risk factors for severe COVID-19, and had a higher incidence of diabetes. A total of 102 emergency department visits/hospitalizations/deaths occurred among both groups. Participants with current hormone therapy use had similar rates and risk of emergency department/hospitalization/death outcomes as those without hormone therapy, even after adjusting for age and severe COVID-19 risk factors. Conclusions: Severe COVID-19 outcomes were not significantly different between women with current versus past/never use of hormone therapy. Our study adds to the data suggesting no harm with hormone therapy use in women with severe symptoms of COVID-19.

Background Opioid analgesics are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States. Opioids are useful in the management of pain, but their use can also adversely affect patients. However, studies reporting patterns of adverse events due to use of opioid analgesics in men and women are still scarce. Understanding the individual characteristics affecting response to opioids may allow clinicians to better individualize treatments. In this study, we investigated sex differences in the patterns of adverse events as a result of opioid use. Methods We used data from 8,457 patients participating in the Mayo Clinic Biobank “Right Drug, Right Dose, Right Time (RIGHT protocol)” study of pre‐emptive genotyping who were prescribed at least one of four opioid medications (codeine, tramadol, hydrocodone, or oxycodone) between 01/01/2004 and 12/31/2017. Adverse events due to use of these medications were collected from the allergy section in each patient’s electronical medical record, and were organized into four Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) categories: gastrointestinal (e.g. nausea, vomiting), skin and subcutaneous tissue (e.g. rash, itching), psychiatric (e.g. anxiety, hallucinations), and nervous system (e.g. headache, dizziness). We modeled sex differences in the risk of adverse events by each opioid, and sex differences in the risk of each adverse event due to any opioid using logistic regression adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, and body mass index (BMI). Results Participants with at least one opioid prescription were 60.8% female, mostly white (94.2%) and non‐Hispanic (98.9%). Women (relative to men) were younger (median = 61.6 vs. 69.1, respectively), had lower BMI (median = 27.4 vs. 28.9), and were prescribed more codeine (18.8% vs. 15.5%). Overall, 456 (5.4%) persons had a note in the allergy section of their medical record indicating a problem with an opioid medication. Women were more likely than men to have a note in the allergy section referring to at least one opioid (6.6% and 3.5%, respectively; p < 0.001). In addition, among participants who had at least one note related to opioid use in their allergy section, women were more likely to have notes regarding gastrointestinal complications (OR [95% CI] = 2.07 [1.3 – 3.2], p = 0.002), but less likely to have notes regarding psychiatric issues (OR [95% CI] = 0.30 [0.2 – 0.5], p < 0.001). Conclusion Women were more likely than men to experience adverse events due to use of codeine, tramadol, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. In addition, the types of adverse reactions differed between men and women. These data suggest that further studies are needed to ensure that both men and women have optimal responses to opioid medications. Support or Funding Information This work was supported by the Mayo Clinic Specialized Center of Research Excellent on Sex Differences, the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, and the National Institutes of Health grants [U19 GM61388 (The Pharmacogenomics Research Network), R01 GM28157, U01 HG005137, R01 GM125633, R01 AG034676 (The Rochester Epidemiology Project)], and [U01 HG06379 and U01 HG06379 Supplement (The Electronic Medical Record and Genomics (eMERGE) Network)].