Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of York, Area 2 Seebohm Rowntree Building, Heslington, York.
School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen.
Birth Defects Res. 2017 Mar 1;109(4):296-299. doi: 10.1002/bdra.23619. Epub 2017 Feb 10.
Between 1957 and 1962 thalidomide was used as a nonaddictive, nonbarbiturate sedative that also was successful in relieving the symptoms of morning sickness in early pregnancy. Infamously, thousands of babies were subsequently born with severe birth defects. The drug is used again, today, to successfully treat leprosy, and tragically, there is a new generation of thalidomide damaged children in Brazil. While the outward damage in babies has been documented, the effects of the damage upon the survivors as they grow up, the lifestyle changes and adaptations required to be made, as well as studies into ageing in survivors, has received little attention and remains understudied.
A unique multidisciplinary meeting was organized at the University of York bringing together thalidomide survivors, clinicians, scientists, historians, and social scientists to discuss the past, the current and the future implications of thalidomide.
There is still much to learn from thalidomide, from its complex history and ongoing impact on peoples' lives today, to understanding its mechanism/s to aid future drug safety, to help identify new drugs retaining clinical benefit without the risk of causing embryopathy.
For thalidomide survivors, the original impairments caused by the drug are compounded by the consequences of a lifetime of living with a rare disability, and early onset age-related health problems. This has profound implications for their quality of life and need for health and social care services. It is vital that these issues are addressed in research, and in clinical practice if thalidomide survivors are to "age well". Birth Defects Research 109:296-299, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
在 1957 年至 1962 年期间，沙利度胺曾被用作一种非成瘾性、非巴比妥类镇静剂，也成功缓解了早孕时晨吐的症状。众所周知，随后数千名婴儿出生时患有严重的先天缺陷。如今，这种药物再次被用于成功治疗麻风病，但不幸的是，巴西又出现了新一代沙利度胺受损儿童。虽然婴儿的外在损伤已经有了记录，但随着幸存者的成长，损伤对他们的影响、需要做出的生活方式改变和适应，以及对幸存者衰老的研究，都没有得到多少关注，也没有得到充分研究。
在约克大学组织了一次独特的多学科会议，将沙利度胺幸存者、临床医生、科学家、历史学家和社会科学家聚集在一起，讨论沙利度胺的过去、现在和未来影响。
从沙利度胺复杂的历史及其对当今人们生活的持续影响，到了解其机制/有助于未来药物安全性，再到帮助确定具有临床益处而没有引起胚胎病风险的新药，仍有很多需要学习。
对于沙利度胺幸存者来说，药物最初造成的损伤因终身患有罕见残疾和早发性年龄相关健康问题而加剧。这对他们的生活质量和对健康和社会保健服务的需求产生了深远的影响。如果沙利度胺幸存者要“健康长寿”，就必须在研究和临床实践中解决这些问题。出生缺陷研究 109：296-299，2017。©2017 威利期刊公司。
