Search

Introduction: The pathogenesis and clinical profiles of patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with interstitial lung disease (ILD-PH) are poorly understood. Whether and to what extent pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)-specific therapy improves hemodynamic and outcome in ILD-PH are also unknown. Study Objective: This study aims to clarify the characteristics, clinical course and response to PAH-specific therapy of ILD and/or PH by enrolling three unique subsets: PAH, ILD-PH, and ILD. Methods: The proposed study is a retrospective and prospective, multi-centre, observational cohort study of patients treated at any of three university hospitals in the Hokkaido region of Japan who have any one of the following: PAH; ILD-PH with or without PAH features; or ILD without PH. We aim to enrol 250 patients in total. For the retrospective observation period, data obtained after 1 January 2010, will be analysed, and the prospective observation period will be 1 year. We will compare the clinical data of patients with ILD-PH with those of patients with PAH and those of patients with ILD without PH in the real-world clinical setting. In addition, within the cohort of patients with ILD-PH, we will explore the subset with "ILD-PH with PAH features" and compare the response to PAH-specific therapy with that of PAH. The primary outcome will be the change in pulmonary vascular resistance from first treatment to follow-up in patients with PAH and ILD-PH with PAH features (excluding ILD-PH without PAH feature and ILD-no-PH for the primary outcome). The exploratory outcomes will include analyses of PH-associated biomarkers, right ventricular function and patient-reported outcomes. Results: This is a protocol article and the results will be presented after data collection is completed. Conclusion: The POPLAR study will provide data that help better understand the pathophysiology of ILD-PH and improve the quality of life and outcome of patients with PH and/or ILD. Trial Registration: Japan Registry of Clinical Trials: jRCT1010230018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is often complicated by chronic lung diseases (CLDs) such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interstitial lung disease (ILD). Differentiating between PH associated with CLD (group 3 PH) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in CLD is often difficult and reporting on the efficacy of PAH-specific therapies is inconsistent as a result of the lack of understanding of the heterogeneity of patients with PH. Methods: A retrospective observational cohort study was conducted to understand the baseline characteristics, comorbidities, and treatment profiles of patients with PH in CLD in a real-world setting using a large-scale claims database (Medical Data Vision). Administrative and clinical data for patients admitted to acute-care hospitals in Japan between April 2008 and January 2021 were analyzed. Results: A total of 115,921 patients with CLD (109,578 with COPD and 6343 with ILD, of whom 569 and 176 had PH, respectively) were analyzed. This study found lower PH diagnosis rates among patients with COPD and patients with ILD than in previous studies. The majority of PH with CLD patients were elderly (mean age 75.7 years) and male (80.81%). Among patients with CLD prescribed PAH-specific therapies (105 patients with COPD; 64 patients with ILD), most received these as monotherapy (COPD, 84.76%; ILD, 75.56%); the most common were phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors (COPD, 42.70%; ILD, 18.37%), prostacyclins (oral; COPD, 48.31%; ILD, 24.49%), and endothelin receptor antagonists (ERA) (COPD, 8.99%; ILD, 18.37%). Comorbidities (e.g., pulmonary, cardiac, kidney), home oxygen therapy (HOT), and echocardiography (ECHO) were factors associated with the diagnosis of PH. Conclusion: This is the first study using an administrative database that provides real-world data on patients with PH in CLD in Japan. Our results indicate that PH may be misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed in Japan which may lead to suboptimal treatment for patients, and supports the need for further evidence to guide appropriate treatment. Plain Language Summary: Pulmonary hypertension is a disorder affecting the arteries in the lungs and the right heart. It can be associated with a variety of heart and lung conditions, including many chronic lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and interstitial lung disease. Patients with pulmonary hypertension with chronic lung disease and/or hypoxia can be hard to tell apart from patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension coinciding with chronic lung disease. In Japan, there is not enough data on patient demographics and their disease characteristics for patients with pulmonary hypertension and chronic lung disease, including treatment profiles, and disease management. We identified these patients from a large medical claims database in Japan and analyzed their data. Our study focused on the use of therapies for pulmonary arterial hypertension on patients with pulmonary hypertension and chronic lung disease. The diagnosis rates of pulmonary hypertension for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and interstitial lung disease were low compared to previous reports, meaning patients with pulmonary hypertension may be misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed which may be resulting in suboptimal treatments. Furthermore, the majority of patients with pulmonary hypertension treated with pulmonary arterial hypertension medication received a single drug as treatment, even though the guidelines recommend the use of combination therapies in certain situations. This study emphasizes the need for further evidence generation for improvements in diagnoses and treatment of patients with pulmonary hypertension in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Real-world data on the comparative effectiveness of endothelin receptor antagonists (ERAs; macitentan, bosentan, ambrisentan) for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), particularly in Asian countries, are scarce. We evaluated the persistence of these ERAs before and after macitentan approval in Japan (2015). Methods: We used real-world data from the Japanese Medical Data Vision administrative claims database between April 2008 and November 2020. Patients with PAH were identified from the dataset. Persistence to ERA treatment before and after approval of macitentan in Japan was defined as the time between start of the index ERA and treatment discontinuation or death. Propensity score adjustment was applied to minimize confounding effects among treatment groups. Results: In the pre-macitentan approval cohort, 153 and 51 patients received bosentan and ambrisentan, respectively. In the post-macitentan approval cohort, 331, 284, and 91 patients received macitentan, bosentan, and ambrisentan, respectively. Unadjusted median persistence for ambrisentan- and bosentan-treated patients was 19 and 10 months, respectively (adjusted HR 0.87 [95% CI 0.61–1.24]; P = 0.434 [bosentan as reference]). In the post-macitentan approval cohort, unadjusted median persistence was 18 months for macitentan-treated patients versus 6 and 8 months for ambrisentan- and bosentan-treated patients, respectively. Adjusted HRs for ambrisentan and bosentan were 1.48 (95% CI 1.12–1.95; P = 0.006) and 1.63 (95% CI 1.30–2.04; P < 0.001 [macitentan as reference]), respectively. Conclusions: Real-world data for Japanese patients with PAH showed that persistence was significantly higher for macitentan, versus ambrisentan and bosentan, since its approval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Patient and Therapeutic Profiles of Pulmonary Hypertension in Chronic Lung Diseases in Japan: A Cohort Study Using a Claims Database." The original article contained a mistake in the alignment of the heading in Table 3. The corrected table is provided in the correction notice. The article discusses the CCI and NHYA classes of the PAH therapy group and the no treatment group in relation to COPD and ILD. The authors of the article are Kazuki Kitahara, Junichi Omura, Shingo Wada, and Seok-Won Kim. [Extracted from the article]

Aims/hypothesis: Nitric oxide (NO) is synthesised not only from l-arginine by NO synthases (NOSs), but also from its inert metabolites, nitrite and nitrate. Green leafy vegetables are abundant in nitrate, but whether or not a deficiency in dietary nitrite/nitrate spontaneously causes disease remains to be clarified. In this study, we tested our hypothesis that long-term dietary nitrite/nitrate deficiency would induce the metabolic syndrome in mice. Methods: To this end, we prepared a low-nitrite/nitrate diet (LND) consisting of an amino acid-based low-nitrite/nitrate chow, in which the contents of l-arginine, fat, carbohydrates, protein and energy were identical with a regular chow, and potable ultrapure water. Nitrite and nitrate were undetectable in both the chow and the water. Results: Three months of the LND did not affect food or water intake in wild-type C57BL/6J mice compared with a regular diet (RD). However, in comparison with the RD, 3 months of the LND significantly elicited visceral adiposity, dyslipidaemia and glucose intolerance. Eighteen months of the LND significantly provoked increased body weight, hypertension, insulin resistance and impaired endothelium-dependent relaxations to acetylcholine, while 22 months of the LND significantly led to death mainly due to cardiovascular disease, including acute myocardial infarction. These abnormalities were reversed by simultaneous treatment with sodium nitrate, and were significantly associated with endothelial NOS downregulation, adiponectin insufficiency and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. Conclusions/interpretation: These results provide the first evidence that long-term dietary nitrite/nitrate deficiency gives rise to the metabolic syndrome, endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular death in mice, indicating a novel pathogenetic role of the exogenous NO production system in the metabolic syndrome and its vascular complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]