Publications by authors named "A Sermon"

Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease and a global leading cause of pain and disability. Current treatment is limited to symptom relief, yet there is no disease-modifying therapy. Its multifactorial etiology includes excessive activation of Wnt signaling, but how Wnt causes joint destruction remains poorly understood.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study analyzed hospitalizations for osteoporotic fractures in Belgian patients aged 50 and over from 2010 to 2021, revealing a drop in the hospitalization rate despite an increase in total hospitalizations due to population changes.
  • - Over the 11-year period, a total of 445,234 hospitalizations were recorded, with a notable increase in rates among men (12.1%) compared to women (4.1%).
  • - The age-standardized incidence rates for osteoporotic fractures declined in both men and women, suggesting improvements in fracture management or prevention strategies.
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Purpose: Despite the availability of clinical guidelines for hip fracture patients, adherence to these guidelines is challenging, potentially resulting in suboptimal patient care. The goal of this study was (1) to evaluate and benchmark the adherence to recently established quality indicators (QIs), and (2) to study clinical outcomes, in fragile hip fracture patients from different European countries.

Methods: This observational, cross-sectional multicenter study was performed in 10 hospitals from 9 European countries including data of 298 consecutive patients.

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Background: Timing of surgery remains a topic of debate for hip fracture treatment in the geriatric patient population. The quality indicator "early surgery" was implemented in 2014 at the Department of Trauma Surgery of the University Hospitals Leuven to enhance timely operative treatment. In this follow-up study, we aim to evaluate the performance of this quality indicator, the clinical outcomes, and room for improvement.

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Background: Bedside clinical pharmacy prevents drug-related problems, but is not feasible in many countries due to limited resources. Hence, clinical rules using structural information in the electronic health record can help identifying potentially inappropriate prescriptions (PIPs). We aimed to develop and implement a risk-based clinical pharmacy service and evaluate its impact on prescribing at the trauma surgery ward.

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