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Abstract Background The aim was to identify risk factors for severe adult-onset asthma. Methods We used data from a population-based sample (Adult Asthma in Finland) of 1350 patients with adult-onset asthma (age range 31–93 years) from Finnish national registers. Severe asthma was defined as self-reported severe asthma and asthma symptoms causing much harm and regular impairment and ≥ 1 oral corticosteroid course/year or regular oral corticosteroids or waking up in the night due to asthma symptoms/wheezing ≥ a few times/month. Sixteen covariates covering several domains (personal characteristics, education, lifestyle, early-life factors, asthma characteristics and multiple morbidities) were selected based on the literature and were studied in association with severe asthma using logistic regressions. Results The study population included 100 (7.4%) individuals with severe asthma. In a univariate analysis, severe asthma was associated with male sex, age, a low education level, no professional training, ever smoking, ≥ 2 siblings, ≥ 1 chronic comorbidity and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-exacerbated respiratory disease (NERD) (p

Asthma often remains uncontrolled, despite the fact that the pharmacological treatment has undergone large changes. We studied changes in the treatment of asthma over a 20-year period and identified factors associated with the regular use of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) treatment. Changes in the use of medication were determined in 4617 randomly selected subjects, while changes in adults with persistent asthma were analysed in 369 participants. The study compares data from three surveys in 24 centres in 11 countries. The use of ICSs increased from 1.7% to 5.9% in the general population and the regular use of ICSs increased from 19% to 34% among persistent asthmatic subjects. The proportion of asthmatic subjects reporting asthma attacks in the last 12 months decreased, while the proportion that had seen a doctor in the last 12 months remained unchanged (42%). Subjects with asthma who had experienced attacks or had seen a doctor were more likely to use ICSs on a regular basis. Although ICS use has increased, only one-third of subjects with persistent asthma take ICSs on a regular basis. Less than half had seen a doctor during the last year. This indicates that underuse of ICSs and lack of regular healthcare contacts remains a problem in the management of asthma.

Abstract Background The comorbidity burden has a negative impact on lung-cancer survival. Several comorbidity scores have been described and are currently used. The current challenge is to select the comorbidity score that best reflects their impact on survival. Here, we compared seven usable comorbidity scores (Charlson Comorbidity Index, Age adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index, Charlson Comorbidity Index adapted to lung cancer, National Cancer Institute combined index, National Cancer Institute combined index adapted to lung cancer, Elixhauser score, and Elixhauser adapted to lung cancer) with coded administrative data according to the tenth revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems to select the best prognostic index for predicting four-month survival. Materials and methods This cohort included every patient with a diagnosis of lung cancer hospitalized for the first time in the thoracic oncology unit of our institution between 2011 and 2015. The seven scores were calculated and used in a Cox regression method to model their association with four-month survival. Then, parameters to compare the relative goodness-of-fit among different models (Akaike Information Criteria, Bayesian Information Criteria), and discrimination parameters (the C-statistic and Harrell’s c-statistic) were calculated. A sensitivity analysis of these parameters was finally performed using a bootstrap method based on 1,000 samples. Results In total, 633 patients were included. Male sex, histological type, metastatic status, CCI, CCI-lung, Elixhauser score, and Elixhauser-lung were associated with poorer four-month survival. The Elixhauser score had the lowest AIC and BIC and the highest c-statistic and Harrell’s c-statistic. These results were confirmed in the sensitivity analysis, in which these discrimination parameters for the Elixhauser score were significantly different from the other scores. Conclusions Based on this cohort, the Elixhauser score is the best prognostic comorbidity score for predicting four-month survival for hospitalized lung cancer patients.

Abstract Background Although polypharmacy has been described among cancer patients, very few studies have focused on those with lung cancer. We aimed to assess whether polypharmacy and comorbidity have an impact on systemic parenteral treatment administration and survival among lung-cancer patients. Methods In this retrospective monocenter cohort study, we included patients hospitalized in thoracic oncology for the first time between 2011 and 2015. The Elixhauser score was used to assess comorbidity and polypharmacy was estimated with a threshold of at least five prescribed medications. The Fine and Gray competitive risk model was used to estimate the impact of polypharmacy and comorbidity on systemic parenteral treatment administration within the first two months of hospitalization. The effect of comorbidity and polypharmacy on overall survival was evaluated by Cox proportional hazards analysis. Results In total, 633 patients were included (71% men), with a median age of 66 years. The median Elixhauser score was 6 and median overall survival was four months. Among the patients, 24.3% were considered to be receiving polypharmacy, with a median number of medications of 3, and 49.9% received systemic parenteral treatment within two months after hospitalization. Severe comorbidity (Elixhauser score > 11), but not polypharmacy, was independently associated with a lower rate of systemic parenteral treatment prescription (SdHR = 0.4 [0.3;0.6], p

Most patients with lung cancer are smokers and are of advanced age. They are therefore at high risk of having age- and lifestyle-related comorbidities. These comorbidities are subject to treatment or even polypharmacy. There is growing evidence of a link between lung cancer, comorbidities and medications. The relationships between these entities are complex. The presence of comorbidities and their treatments influence the time of cancer diagnosis, as well as the diagnostic and treatment strategy. On the other hand, cancer treatment may have an impact on the patient’s comorbidities such as renal failure, pneumonitis or endocrinopathies. This review highlights how some comorbidities may have an impact on lung cancer presentation and may require treatment adjustments. Reciprocal influences between the treatment of comorbidities and anticancer therapy will also be discussed.

ABSTRACTSubacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a late-onset and fatal viral disease caused by persistent infection of the central nervous system by measles virus (MeV). We present the case of a 10-year-old child from South Asia affected by SSPE, stabilized with a combination of intrathecal interferon-α2b (INF-α2b) injections and oral inosiplex and how we continued the treatment when inosiplex was commercially stopped worldwide.

BackgroundEuropean national disparities in the integration of data linkage (ie, being able to match patient data between databases) into routine public health activities were recently highlighted. In France, the claims database covers almost the whole population from birth to death, offering a great research potential for data linkage. As the use of a common unique identifier to directly link personal data is often limited, linkage with a set of indirect key identifiers has been developed, which is associated with the linkage quality challenge to minimize errors in linked data. ObjectiveThe aim of this systematic review is to analyze the type and quality of research publications on indirect data linkage on health product use and care trajectories in France. MethodsA comprehensive search for all papers published in PubMed/Medline and Embase databases up to December 31, 2022, involving linked French database focusing on health products use or care trajectories was realized. Only studies based on the use of indirect identifiers were included (ie, without a unique personal identifier available to easily link the databases). A descriptive analysis of data linkage with quality indicators and adherence to the Bohensky framework for evaluating data linkage studies was also realized. ResultsIn total, 16 papers were selected. Data linkage was performed at the national level in 7 (43.8%) cases or at the local level in 9 (56.2%) studies. The number of patients included in the different databases and resulting from data linkage varied greatly, respectively, from 713 to 75,000 patients and from 210 to 31,000 linked patients. The diseases studied were mainly chronic diseases and infections. The objectives of the data linkage were multiple: to estimate the risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs; n=6, 37.5%), to reconstruct the patient’s care trajectory (n=5, 31.3%), to describe therapeutic uses (n=2, 12.5%), to evaluate the benefits of treatments (n=2, 12.5%), and to evaluate treatment adherence (n=1, 6.3%). Registries are the most frequently linked databases with French claims data. No studies have looked at linking with a hospital data warehouse, a clinical trial database, or patient self-reported databases. The linkage approach was deterministic in 7 (43.8%) studies, probabilistic in 4 (25.0%) studies, and not specified in 5 (31.3%) studies. The linkage rate was mainly from 80% to 90% (reported in 11/15, 73.3%, studies). Adherence to the Bohensky framework for evaluating data linkage studies showed that the description of the source databases for the linkage was always performed but that the completion rate and accuracy of the variables to be linked were not systematically described. ConclusionsThis review highlights the growing interest in health data linkage in France. Nevertheless, regulatory, technical, and human constraints remain major obstacles to their deployment. The volume, variety, and validity of the data represent a real challenge, and advanced expertise and skills in statistical analysis and artificial intelligence are required to treat these big data.

Abstract Background Pharmacists play a key role in ensuring the safe use of injectable antineoplastics, which are considered as high-alert medications. Pharmaceutical analysis of injectable antineoplastic prescriptions aims to detect and prevent drug related problems by proposing pharmacist interventions (PI). The impact of this activity for patients, healthcare facilities and other health professionals is not completely known. This study aimed at describing the clinical, economic, and organizational impacts of PIs performed by pharmacists in a chemotherapy preparation unit. Methods A prospective 10-week study was conducted on PIs involving injectable antineoplastic prescriptions. Each PI was assessed by one of the four multidisciplinary expert committees using a multidimensional tool with three independent dimensions: clinical, economic and organizational. An ancillary quantitative evaluation of drug cost savings was conducted. Results Overall, 185 patients were included (mean age: 63.5 ± 13.7 years; 54.1% were male) and 237 PIs concerning 10.1% prescriptions were recorded. Twenty one PIs (8.9%) had major clinical impact (ie: prevented hospitalization or permanent disability), 49 PIs (20.7%) had moderate clinical impact (ie: prevented harm that would have required further monitoring/treatment), 62 PIs (26.2%) had minor clinical impact, 95 PIs (40.0%) had no clinical impact, and 9 PIs (3.8%) had a negative clinical impact. For one PI (0.4%) the clinical impact was not determined due to insufficient information. Regarding organizational impact, 67.5% PIs had a positive impact on patient management from the healthcare providers’ perspective. A positive economic impact was observed for 105 PIs (44.3%), leading to a saving in direct drug costs of 15,096 €; 38 PIs (16.0%) had a negative economic impact, increasing the direct drug cost by 11,878 €. Overall cost saving was 3218€. Conclusions PIs are associated with positive clinical, economic and organizational impacts. This study confirms the benefit of pharmacist analysis of injectable antineoplastic prescriptions for patient safety with an overall benefit to the healthcare system.

Optimal therapeutic management is a major determinant of patient prognosis and healthcare costs. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent an opportunity to enhance therapeutic management in complex chronic diseases, such as lung transplantation (LT). The objective of this study was to assess the preferences of LT patients and healthcare professionals regarding ICTs in LT therapeutic management. A cross-sectional opinion survey was conducted among lung transplant patients and healthcare professionals from the French lung transplantation centers. Five ICTs were defined (SMS, email, phone, internet, and smartphone application) in addition to face-to-face communication. An unsupervised approach by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identified lung transplant patient profiles according to their preferences for ICTs. Fifty-three lung transplant patients and 15 healthcare professionals of the French LT centers were included. Both expected ICTs for treatment management and communication. Phone call, face-to-face, and emails were the most preferred communication tools for treatment changes and initiation. PCA identified four ICTs-related profiles (“no ICT”, “email”, “SMS”, and “oral communication”). “Email” and “oral communication” profiles are mainly concerned with treatment changes and transmission of new prescriptions. The “SMS” profile expected reminders for healthcare appointments and optimizing therapeutic management. This study provides practical guidance to enhance LT therapeutic management by ICT intervention. The type of ICT used should take into account patient profiles to improve adherence and thereby the prognosis. A combination of strategies including information, education by a multidisciplinary team, and reminders is a promising approach to ensure an optimal management of our patients.

Objectives Lung transplant (LT) recipients require multidisciplinary care because of the complexity of therapeutic management. Pharmacists are able to detect drug-related problems and provide recommendations to physicians through pharmacists’ interventions (PIs). We aimed at assessing the clinical impact of PIs on therapeutic management in LT outpatients.Design Data were collected prospectively from an LT recipients cohort during 7 years. A multidisciplinary committee assessed retrospectively the clinical impact of accepted PIs.Setting French University Hospital.Participants LT outpatients followed from 2009 to 2015.Primary outcome measures Clinical impact of PIs performed by pharmacists using the CLEO tool and the Pareto chart.Results 1449 PIs led to a change in patient therapeutic management and were mainly related to wrong dosage (39.6%) and untreated indication (19.6%). The clinical impact of PIs was ‘avoids fatality’, ‘major’ and ‘moderate’, in 0.1%, 7.0% and 57.9%, respectively. Immunosuppressants, antimycotics for systemic use and antithrombotic agents had the greatest clinical impact according to the Pareto chart. PIs related to drug–drug interactions (10%) mainly had a moderate and major clinical impact (82.3%, p

An adverse role of frequent domestic use of cleaning agents, especially in spray form, on asthma has been reported. However, sparse studies have investigated respiratory health effects of chronic domestic exposure to irritant cleaning agents. This study aims to investigate associations between weekly use of irritant domestic cleaning products and current allergic and non-allergic asthma in a large cohort of elderly women.We used data from the Asthma-E3N nested case-control study on asthma (n = 19,404 women, response rate: 91%, 2011), in which participants completed standardized questionnaires on asthma and on the use of domestic cleaning products including irritants (bleach, ammonia, solvents and acids). Allergic multimorbidity in asthma was assessed from allergic-related medications recorded in drug refunds database. The association between use of irritants and current asthma was estimated by logistic regression (current vs. never asthma) and multinomial logistic regression (never asthma, non-allergic asthma, allergic asthma) adjusted on age, smoking status and body mass index (BMI).In the 12,758 women included in the analysis (mean age: 70 years, current smokers: 4%, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2: 32%, low education: 11%, current asthma: 23%), 47% reported weekly use of at least one irritant cleaning product at home. Weekly use of irritant products was associated with a higher risk of current asthma (adjusted Odds-Ratio: 1.17, 1.07–1.27). A statistically significant dose–response association was reported (p trend

Introduction. To evaluate the strength of association between lactic acidosis (LA) and well-recognized risk factors for LA, particularly the weight of metformin. Methods. This study is a matched case-control analysis concerning the type 2 diabetes population from Grenoble Hospital University. Cases of LA were defined biologically with pH < 7.35 and lactates > 5 mmol/L. They were matched to 2 controls defined as type 2 diabetic inpatients who did not present a LA during the study period. We performed a conditional logistic regression. Results. We included 302 cases and 604 controls; mean age was 69.5 years (SD 11.93). Intercurrent diseases were significantly associated with LA. Chronic medical conditions had a minor impact on LA incidence, except hepatocellular dysfunction. Metformin was significantly associated with a higher LA probability in case of acute kidney injury (AKI) (OR = 1.79; p value = 0.020) but not in patients without AKI. Discussion and Conclusions. According to this study, metformin, compared to acute medical conditions, seemed not to be associated with LA in patients with type 2 diabetes; however in case of AKI, metformin may be associated with LA.