Respiratory medicine
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Respiratory medicine · Oct 2013
Meta AnalysisSex differences in asthma symptom profiles and control in the American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Centers.
Important differences between men and women with asthma have been demonstrated, with women describing more symptoms and worse asthma-related quality of life (QOL) despite having similar or better pulmonary function. While current guidelines focus heavily on assessing asthma control, they lack information about whether sex-specific approaches to asthma assessment should be considered. We sought to determine if sex differences in asthma control or symptom profiles exist in the well-characterized population of participants in the American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Centers (ALA-ACRC) trials. ⋯ In participants with poorly-controlled asthma, women had outwardly similar asthma control, but had unique symptom profiles on detailed item analyses which were evident on evaluation of three standardized asthma questionnaires.
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Respiratory medicine · Oct 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyEfficacy and safety of once-daily umeclidinium/vilanterol 62.5/25 mcg in COPD.
To examine the efficacy and safety of the once-daily, inhaled, long-acting muscarinic antagonist/β2-agonist combination umeclidinium/vilanterol (UMEC/VI) compared with UMEC and VI monotherapies in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). ⋯ Once-daily UMEC/VI 62.5/25 mcg was well tolerated and provided clinically-significant improvements in lung function and symptoms in patients with COPD.
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Respiratory medicine · Oct 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudySafety and efficacy of dual bronchodilation with QVA149 in COPD patients: the ENLIGHTEN study.
QVA149 is an inhaled, once-daily fixed-dose dual bronchodilator combination of the long-acting β2-agonist indacaterol and long-acting muscarinic antagonist glycopyrronium (NVA237) for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We investigated the safety and efficacy of QVA149 over 52 weeks. ⋯ QVA149 demonstrated a good safety and tolerability profile, providing rapid and sustained bronchodilation over 52 weeks in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01120717.
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Respiratory medicine · Oct 2013
Development and validation of a claims-based prediction model for COPD severity.
Administrative claims are an important data source for COPD research but lack a validated measure of patient COPD severity, which is an important determinant of treatment and outcomes. ⋯ The prediction model was developed using clinically measured COPD severity to provide researchers an approach to classify patients using claims data when clinical measures are not available.
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Respiratory medicine · Oct 2013
Amount of elastic fibers predicts prognosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Elastic fibers enhance the stiffness of fibrotic tissues, but their role in the pathophysiology of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has not been fully examined. The aim of this study was to determine clinical significance of the amount of elastic fibers in IPF. ⋯ The amount of elastic fiber in fibrotic tissue is a prognostic indicator in patients with IPF.