Ain't nothin' but a funny, funny riddle

2004-05-03 - 11:18 p.m.

I think today I may have overdone it with the exercise. I went to step aerobics twice today and pushed myself both times. Then I went to a volleyball open gym and stayed for four hours. I was playing hard the whole time there too. If I can get out of bed tomorrow it'll be a miracle. It was so hot today. In the gym when I was playing this evening the temperature was easily in the triple digits. The good-looking guy from last week was there again this week. Nothing happened beyond friendly, though. I wish it would.

Also today I managed to get myself sunburned. I was sitting out in the backyard studying in my swimsuit trying to get some of my whiteness to go away. Unfortunately, I let my chest burn. Now I have a serious tanline in a place where it'll show when I wear my lower cut shirts. Ergh.

While studying today I also finished 4 hours of CE. I have to have 30 hours of CE completed every two years to renew my pharmacist license in California. It's a start anyway. All the CE I did today was the kind where you read a lengthy article and then answer multiple choice questions. Then I have to mail in my answers along with a check and if I get 70% or more correct, they send me a certificate saying I completed it. It's probably the easiest way to get CE, but it's not necessarily the cheapest. And doesn't it seem like we should have to get more than 70% correct to get credit for it? I mean it's a multiple choice quiz covering material we have right there in front of us with no time limit--how could a competent pharmacist miss any of the answers? Oh well, I actually had one question today that completely stumped me. I was hoping that I'd look at it again tomorrow and it would turn out to be obvious after all. Oh, I know, how about you guys help me out! Doesn't that sound fun? Oh you know it does! The topic of discussion here is New and Evolving Concepts in the Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism in Hip Fracture and the Medically Ill." Just so you know, this whole thing was payed for by the manufacturer of Arixtra, the brand name of fondaparinux. This is the section of the article about which the question is being asked:

"... The mode of action of fondaparinux may have been a factor in clinical outcomes observed in two randomized, double-blind trials following hip fracture surgery. The first study, PENTHIFRA, compared short-term (5-9 days) thromboprophylaxis with either enoxaparin or fondaparinux. In this trial, fondaparinux significantly reduced the incidence of venous thromboembolism (8.3%) as compared to enoxaparin (19.1%)--a relative risk reduction of 56.4% (P<0.001)
In the placebo-controlled PENTHIFRA-PLUS trial, the incidence of venogram-documented VTE was extraordinarily low (1.4%) when a 1-week period of fondaparinux prophylaxis was extended for an additional 3 weeks. This compared with a 35% incidence in the placebo group which received only 1 week of fondaparinux prophylaxis, a relative risk reduction of 95.9% (p<0.001) with fondaparinux."

Still with me? Here's the question: In the placebo-controlled PENTHIFRA-PLUS trial with fondaparinux, extending the duration of thromboprophylaxis from 1 week to 4 weeks further reduced the incidence of venogram-documented VTE by about: a) 10%, b) 25%, c)50%, d)75%, or e) 95% If you can answer that and explain to me why your answer is right, you'd make me a happy girl. At least for a little while.

Speaking of being happy, my new checks came in the mail today. Now when the bills come I'll be able to pay them. Yay!