Dr. Seth A. Eisen This is Me

Education

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1. 1. www.arthritis.ca

   www.arthritis.ca/toolbox/headl - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/27/2006   Last Visited: 6/12/2008

   "Our data suggest that by starting on a lower dose initially, patients tolerate the drug better," says Seth Eisen, M.D., a VA staff physician and professor of medicine and psychiatry at the School of Medicine."The disadvantage is that it may take a little bit longer for patients to improve clinically; the advantage is that patients may be more likely to continue treatment."Eisen and Chuck Siva, M.D., a rheumatology fellow, were principal investigators of the study, which was conducted in collaboration with several other VA medical centers across the United States.
   ...
   "As far as we could tell there were no surprises in terms of toxicity," Eisen says."Sometimes it takes a lot more patients than the 3,300 we studied to pick up rare adverse outcomes, but I think our findings are reassuring to the larger community of patients and clinicians."Eisen emphasizes that since the study is a review of already existent data, no control and intervention groups could be established and assessment of side effects could not be standardized."In a subset of the patients for whom the medication was discontinued, we examined their medical records in an attempt to determine the reason the medication was stopped," Eisen explains."We were particularly looking for evidence of severe toxicity and did not find any.But still, it's a matter of trying to interpret clinical notes."
   
   Although researchers were aware of the disadvantages of this type of study, they pointed to a number of potential advantages.Only a relatively small investment of money and time were required, and the patient population at the VA offered a chance to study portions of the general population that typically do not enrol in clinical trials.Eisen explains that clinical trials often enrol more women and younger patients from higher socio-economic groups.The sex bias is particularly prevalent in clinical trials for treatments for rheumatological diseases, which afflict women more often than men.
   
   "VA medical data complements information obtained from other sources because VA patients are predominantly male and older and include a higher proportion of African-Americans and individuals from lower socio-economic groups than general studies do," Eisen says.

2. 2. www.arthritis.ca

   www.arthritis.ca/toolbox/headl - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/3/2003   Last Visited: 6/22/2008

   "Our data suggest that by starting on a lower dose initially, patients tolerate the drug better," says Seth Eisen, M.D., a VA staff physician and professor of medicine and psychiatry at the School of Medicine."The disadvantage is that it may take a little bit longer for patients to improve clinically; the advantage is that patients may be more likely to continue treatment."Eisen and Chuck Siva, M.D., a rheumatology fellow, were principal investigators of the study, which was conducted in collaboration with several other VA medical centers across the United States.
   ...
   "As far as we could tell there were no surprises in terms of toxicity," Eisen says."Sometimes it takes a lot more patients than the 3,300 we studied to pick up rare adverse outcomes, but I think our findings are reassuring to the larger community of patients and clinicians."Eisen emphasizes that since the study is a review of already existent data, no control and intervention groups could be established and assessment of side effects could not be standardized."In a subset of the patients for whom the medication was discontinued, we examined their medical records in an attempt to determine the reason the medication was stopped," Eisen explains."We were particularly looking for evidence of severe toxicity and did not find any.But still, it's a matter of trying to interpret clinical notes."
   
   Although researchers were aware of the disadvantages of this type of study, they pointed to a number of potential advantages.Only a relatively small investment of money and time were required, and the patient population at the VA offered a chance to study portions of the general population that typically do not enrol in clinical trials.Eisen explains that clinical trials often enrol more women and younger patients from higher socio-economic groups.The sex bias is particularly prevalent in clinical trials for treatments for rheumatological diseases, which afflict women more often than men.
   
   "VA medical data complements information obtained from other sources because VA patients are predominantly male and older and include a higher proportion of African-Americans and individuals from lower socio-economic groups than general studies do," Eisen says.

3. 3. KRT Wire | 06/09/2005 | Study: Gulf War vets in combat zone suffer host of health disorders

   www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayn - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/9/2005   Last Visited: 6/9/2005

   Only a small percentage of veterans got sick, said Dr. Seth A. Eisen, a staff physician at the St. Louis Department of Veterans Affairs and a professor of internal medicine at Washington University.Eisen was the lead author of the study published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
   
   "The results of our study support what others have found - that deployed veterans have more problems with body tenderness and fatigue," he said.
   ...
   That participation rate is not surprising, Eisen said.
   
   People who didn't serve in the combat zone don't often associate themselves with the problems deployed service members face and may not think their contribution is valuable, Eisen said.
   
   The new study followed veterans who had participated in a 1995 phone and mail survey.People who thought they were sick in the previous study were also more likely to participate in the new study, Eisen said.He acknowledged that both are potential weaknesses, but said that neither factor could account for the dramatically higher prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome among deployed veterans.