Respiratory medicine
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Clubbing is associated with poor prognosis and is variably present in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), but is also seen in other fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). Little is known about the best methodology to assess clubbing in ILDs and, hence, the prevalence and clinical utility and clinical significance of clubbing. We therefore aimed to evaluate the agreement between different clubbing assessment methods in patients with fibrotic ILDs. Additionally, we assessed the prevalence of clubbing in different fibrotic ILDs and related clubbing to disease severity and quality of life. ⋯ Clubbing was present in 7-42% of our fibrotic ILD cohort and showed no correlation with disease severity. Although considered an important clinical feature, assessment methods for clubbing showed no to poor agreement. Further studies are therefore needed to gain more insight into measuring clubbing reliably and the possible prognostic value and evolution of clubbing.
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Respiratory medicine · Nov 2017
Prevalence of comorbidities in COPD patients by disease severity in a German population.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is commonly associated with multiple comorbidities. Our objective was to assess the prevalence of comorbidities in patients with COPD and to relate their prevalence to the severity of the disease by using a large German health care database. Based on the retrospective analysis of a two-year (2013-2014) database from the German Statutory Health Insurance system, we obtained a representative sample of 4,075,493 german insurants. ⋯ However, the prevalence of comorbidities did not correlate to the severity of airflow limitation. The results of this sizeable nationwide survey support the concept that individuals with COPD need careful evaluation regarding comorbidities. This can already be of relevance in patients with mild to moderate airflow limitation.