Respiratory medication use in Australia 2003–2013: treatment of asthma and COPD

This report describes patterns of dispensing of respiratory medications in Australia through detailed analyses of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data, as well as other sources, to draw inferences about respiratory medication use among patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Summary This report focuses on medications dispensed for asthma (a chronic airways disease affecting children and adults) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which primarily affects older adults who have been smokers). In 2013, one or more respiratory medications were dispensed to 2,042,104 people in Australia (9.1% of the population)

Clinical implications of the Royal College of Physicians three questions in routine asthma care: A real-life validation study

BACKGROUND: Annual recording of the Royal College of Physicians three questions (RCP3Q) morbidity score is rewarded within the UK 'pay-for-performance' Quality and Outcomes Framework. AIMS: To investigate the performance of the RCP3Qs for assessing control in real-life practice compared with the validated Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) administered by self-completed questionnaire. METHODS: We compared the RCP3Q score extracted from a patient's computerised medical record with the ACQ self-completed after the consultation. The anonymous data were paired by practice, age, sex, and dates of completion. We calculated the sensitivity and specificity of the RCP3Q scale compared with the threshold for good/poor asthma control (ACQ greater than 1). RESULTS: Of 291 ACQ questionnaires returned from 12 participating practices, 129 could be paired with complete RCP3Q data. Twenty-five of 27 patients who scored zero on the RCP3Q were well controlled (ACQ less than 1). An RCP3Q score greater than 1 predicted inadequate control (ACQ greater than 1) with a sensitivity of 0.96 and specificity of 0.34. Comparable values for RCP3Q greater than 2 were sensitivity 0.50 and specificity 0.94. The intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.13 indicated substantial variability between practices. Exacerbations and use of reliever inhalers were moderately correlated with ACQ (Spearman's rho 0.3 and 0.35) and may reflect different aspects of control. CONCLUSIONS: In routine practice, an RCP3Q score of zero indicates good asthma control and a score of 2 or 3 indicates poor control. An RCP3Q score of 1 has good sensitivity but poor specificity for suboptimal control and should provoke further enquiry and consideration of other aspects of control such as exacerbations and use of reliever inhalers

Artificial intelligence/machine learning in respiratory medicine and potential role in asthma and COPD diagnosis

Acknowledgments We thank Ian Wright, PhD, of Novartis Ireland Ltd, for providing medical writing support in accordance with Good Publication Practice (GPP3) guidelines (http://www.ismpp.org/gpp3).63Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Deepening democracy within Ireland's social partnership

Ireland's social partnership process, now under attack from a number of quarters, has repeatedly been charged with being 'undemocratic' in that it undermines the sovereign position of elected political representatives, with key policy formulation and decision-making taking place in fora outside the institutions of representative democracy. These critiques echo those against new forms of networked governance more globally. A key question therefore is how (and if) democracy may be deepened within social partnership or its potential successor(s). This article addresses this question by employing a post-liberal democratic framework to examine social partnership in practice, and by drawing lessons from another partnership process, Malawi's PRSP. Drawing from Malawi's experience, it is argued that democracy can be deepened within social partnership when governance deliberations and negotiations are conducted under conditions of vibrant public debate and genuine perspective-based representation, and when the communicative and discursive norms are widened to allow for such representation

International Guillain-Barré Syndrome Outcome Study (IGOS): protocol of a prospective observational cohort study on clinical and biological predictors of disease course and outcome in Guillain-Barré syndrome

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute polyradiculoneuropathy with a highly variable clinical presentation, course, and outcome. The factors that determine the clinical variation of GBS are poorly understood which complicates the care and treatment of individual patients. The protocol of the ongoing International GBS Outcome Study (IGOS), a prospective, observational, multi-centre cohort study that aims to identify the clinical and biological determinants and predictors of disease onset, subtype, course and outcome of GBS is presented here. Patients fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for GBS, regardless of age, disease severity, variant forms, or treatment, can participate if included within two weeks after onset of weakness. Information about demography, preceding infections, clinical features, diagnostic findings, treatment, course and outcome is collected. In addition, cerebrospinal fluid and serial blood samples for serum and DNA is collected at standard time points. The original aim was to include at least 1000 patients with a follow-up of 1-3 years. Data are collected via a web-based data entry system and stored anonymously. IGOS started in May 2012 and by January 2017 included more than 1400 participants from 143 active centres in 19 countries across 5 continents. The IGOS data/biobank is available for research projects conducted by expertise groups focusing on specific topics including epidemiology, diagnostic criteria, clinimetrics, electrophysiology, antecedent events, antibodies, genetics, prognostic modelling, treatment effects and long-term outcome of GBS. The IGOS will help to standardize the international collection of data and biosamples for future research of GBS. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01582763

Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) strategy 2021 - executive summary and rationale for key changes.

The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Strategy Report provides clinicians with an annually updated evidence-based strategy for asthma management and prevention, which can be adapted for local circumstances (e.g., medication availability). This article summarizes key recommendations from GINA 2021, and the evidence underpinning recent changes. GINA recommends that asthma in adults and adolescents should not be treated solely with short-acting beta2-agonist (SABA), because of the risks of SABA-only treatment and SABA overuse, and evidence for benefit of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). Large trials show that as-needed combination ICS-formoterol reduces severe exacerbations by ≥60% in mild asthma compared with SABA alone, with similar exacerbation, symptom, lung function and inflammatory outcomes as daily ICS plus as-needed SABA. Key changes in GINA 2021 include division of the treatment figure for adults/adolescents into two tracks. Track 1 (preferred) has low-dose ICS-formoterol as the reliever at all steps: as-needed only in Steps 1-2 (mild asthma), and with daily maintenance ICS formoterol (maintenance-and-reliever therapy, MART) in Steps 3-5. Track 2 (alternative) has as-needed SABA across all steps, plus regular ICS (Step 2) or ICS-long-acting beta2-agonist (LABA) (Steps 3-5). For adults with moderate-to-severe asthma, GINA makes additional recommendations in Step 5 for add-on long-acting muscarinic antagonists and azithromycin, with add-on biologic therapies for severe asthma. For children 6-11 years, new treatment options are added at Steps 3-4. Across all age-groups and levels of severity, regular personalized assessment, treatment of modifiable risk factors, self-management education, skills training, appropriate medication adjustment and review remain essential to optimize asthma outcomes

Evaluation of the PPAR-γ agonist pioglitazone in mild asthma: a double-blind randomized controlled trial

Background Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) is a nuclear receptor that modulates inflammation in models of asthma. To determine whether pioglitazone improves measures of asthma control and airway inflammation, we performed a single-center randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial. Methods Sixty-eight participants with mild asthma were randomized to 12 weeks pioglitazone (30 mg for 4 weeks, then 45 mg for 8 weeks) or placebo. The primary outcome was the adjusted mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) at 12 weeks. The secondary outcomes were mean peak expiratory flow (PEF), scores on the Juniper Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) and Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ), fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), bronchial hyperresponsiveness (PD20), induced sputum counts, and sputum supernatant interferon gamma-inducible protein-10 (IP-10), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), and eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) levels. Study recruitment was closed early after considering the European Medicines Agency’s reports of a potential increased risk of bladder cancer with pioglitazone treatment. Fifty-five cases were included in the full analysis (FA) and 52 in the per-protocol (PP) analysis. Results There was no difference in the adjusted FEV1 at 12 weeks (-0.014 L, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.15 to 0.12, p = 0.84) or in any of the secondary outcomes in the FA. The PP analysis replicated the FA, with the exception of a lower evening PEF in the pioglitazone group (-21 L/min, 95% CI -39 to -4, p = 0.02). Conclusions We found no evidence that treatment with 12 weeks of pioglitazone improved asthma control or airway inflammation in mild asthma

Heterogeneity within and between physician-diagnosed asthma and/or COPD : NOVELTY cohort

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Clinical course, therapeutic responses and outcomes in relapsing MOG antibody-associated demyelination.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: We characterised the clinical course, treatment and outcomes in 59 patients with relapsing myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody-associated demyelination. METHODS: We evaluated clinical phenotypes, annualised relapse rates (ARR) prior and on immunotherapy and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), in 218 demyelinating episodes from 33 paediatric and 26 adult patients. RESULTS: The most common initial presentation in the cohort was optic neuritis (ON) in 54% (bilateral (BON) 32%, unilateral (UON) 22%), followed by acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) (20%), which occurred exclusively in children. ON was the dominant phenotype (UON 35%, BON 19%) of all clinical episodes. 109/226 (48%) MRIs had no brain lesions. Patients were steroid responsive, but 70% of episodes treated with oral prednisone relapsed, particularly at doses <10\u2009mg daily or within 2 months of cessation. Immunotherapy, including maintenance prednisone (P=0.0004), intravenous immunoglobulin, rituximab and mycophenolate, all reduced median ARRs on-treatment. Treatment failure rates were lower in patients on maintenance steroids (5%) compared with non-steroidal maintenance immunotherapy (38%) (P=0.016). 58% of patients experienced residual disability (average follow-up 61 months, visual loss in 24%). Patients with ON were less likely to have sustained disability defined by a final EDSS of 652 (OR 0.15, P=0.032), while those who had any myelitis were more likely to have sustained residual deficits (OR 3.56, P=0.077). CONCLUSION: Relapsing MOG antibody-associated demyelination is strongly associated with ON across all age groups and ADEM in children. Patients are highly responsive to steroids, but vulnerable to relapse on steroid reduction and cessation

What predicts change in pulmonary function and quality of life in asthma or COPD ?

Information about predictors of decline in pulmonary function (forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FE