Respiratory medicine
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Respiratory medicine · Feb 2010
The SF-36 and SGRQ: validity and first look at minimum important differences in IPF.
Health-related quality of life (HRQL) is an important outcome in drug trials. Little is known about how the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) perform in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). ⋯ In IPF, the SF-36 and SGRQ possess reasonable validity for differentiating subjects whose disease severity changes over time. More studies are needed to continue the validation process, to refine estimates of the MIDs for the SF-36 or SGRQ, and to determine if a disease-specific instrument will perform better than either of these.
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Respiratory medicine · Feb 2010
Inhaled corticosteroids and risk of pneumonia in newly diagnosed COPD.
The use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in COPD may be associated with an increased risk of pneumonia. Little is known of this risk in newly diagnosed COPD patients. The objective of this study was to determine if the use of ICS among newly diagnosed COPD patients is associated with an increased risk of pneumonia hospitalizations. ⋯ The use of ICS among patients with newly diagnosed COPD is associated with an increased risk of hospitalization for pneumonia.
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Conventional methods to establish pleural infection are time-consuming and sometimes inadequate. Biomarkers may aid in making rapid diagnosis of infection. In an observational study we evaluated and compared the diagnostic value of pleural fluid levels of soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1), C-reactive protein and procalcitonin in intensive care patients with pleural effusions. ⋯ sTREM-1 is superior to C-reactive protein and procalcitonin in detecting infection.