Agreement of the modified Medical Research Council and New York Heart Association scales for assessing the impact of self-rated breathlessness in cardiopulmonary disease.

Background: The functional impact of breathlessness is assessed using the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) scale for chronic respiratory disease and with the New York Heart Association Functional Classification (NYHA) scale for heart failure. We evaluated agreement between the scales and their concurrent validity with other clinically relevant patient-reported outcomes in cardiorespiratory disease.

Methods: Outpatients with stable chronic respiratory disease or heart failure were recruited.

Minimal Clinically Important Differences and Feasibility of Dyspnea-12 and the Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile in Cardiorespiratory Disease.

Context: Breathlessness is a cardinal symptom in cardiorespiratory disease and consists of multiple dimensions that can be measured using the instruments Dyspnea-12 (D12) and the Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile (MDP).

Objectives: The objective of the study is to determine the minimal clinically important differences (MCIDs) of all D12 and MDP summary and subdomain scores as well as the instruments' feasibility in patients with cardiorespiratory disease.

Methods: Prospective multicenter cohort study of outpatients with diagnosed cardiorespiratory disease and breathlessness in daily life.

Validation of the Swedish Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile (MDP) in outpatients with cardiorespiratory disease.

Introduction: Breathlessness is a cardinal symptom in cardiorespiratory disease. An instrument for measuring different aspects of breathlessness was recently developed, the Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile (MDP). This study aimed to validate the MDP in terms of the underlying factor structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and concurrent validity in Swedish outpatients with cardiorespiratory disease.

Clinical validation of the Swedish version of Dyspnoea-12 instrument in outpatients with cardiorespiratory disease.

Introduction: Breathlessness is the cardinal symptom in both cardiac and respiratory diseases, and includes multiple dimensions. The multidimensional instrument Dyspnoea-12 has been developed to assess both physical and affective components of breathlessness. This study aimed to perform a clinical validation of the Swedish version of Dyspnoea-12 in outpatients with cardiorespiratory disease.

REgistry-based randomized controlled trial of treatment and Duration and mortality in long-term OXygen therapy (REDOX) study protocol.

Objective: Long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) during 15 h/day or more prolongs survival in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and severe hypoxemia. No randomized controlled trial has evaluated the net effects (benefits or harms) from LTOT 24 h/day compared with 15 h/day or the effect in conditions other than COPD. We describe a multicenter, national, phase IV, non-superiority, registry-based, randomized controlled trial (R-RCT) of LTOT prescribed 24 h/day compared with 15 h/day.

Surgery for Chronic Otitis Media Causes Greater Taste Disturbance Than Surgery for Otosclerosis.

Objectives: Patients with otosclerosis more often complain about postoperative taste disturbance than patients with chronic otitis media, which seems paradoxical. We aim to investigate if and potentially why this seems to be the case, since the chorda tympani nerve (CTN) is thought to be severely traumatized less frequently during surgery in the former than in the latter.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Use of bibloc and monobloc oral appliances in obstructive sleep apnoea: a multicentre, randomized, blinded, parallel-group equivalence trial.

Background: The clinical benefit of bibloc over monobloc appliances in treating obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) has not been evaluated in randomized trials. We hypothesized that the two types of appliances are equally effective in treating OSA.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of monobloc versus bibloc appliances in a short-term perspective.

Oxygen for breathlessness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who do not qualify for home oxygen therapy.

Background: Breathlessness is a cardinal symptom of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) is given to improve survival time in people with COPD and severe chronic hypoxaemia at rest. The efficacy of oxygen therapy for breathlessness and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in people with COPD and mild or no hypoxaemia who do not meet the criteria for LTOT has not been established.

Long-Term Oxygen Therapy 24 vs 15 h/day and Mortality in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) ≥ 15 h/day improves survival in hypoxemic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). LTOT 24 h/day is often recommended but may pose an unnecessary burden with no clear survival benefit compared with LTOT 15 h/day. The aim was to test the hypothesis that LTOT 24 h/day decreases all-cause, respiratory, and cardiovascular mortality compared to LTOT 15 h/day in hypoxemic COPD.

Cardiovascular and antacid treatment and mortality in oxygen-dependent pulmonary fibrosis: A population-based longitudinal study.

Background And Objective: Severe idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and gastro-oesophageal reflux, which may influence prognosis. We evaluated associations between cardiovascular and antacid medications, and mortality, in oxygen-dependent pulmonary fibrosis (PF) of unknown cause.

Methods: Prospective population-based study of adults starting long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) for PF in Sweden 2005-2009.

The identification of complex interactions in epidemiology and toxicology: a simulation study of boosted regression trees.

Background: There is a need to evaluate complex interaction effects on human health, such as those induced by mixtures of environmental contaminants. The usual approach is to formulate an additive statistical model and check for departures using product terms between the variables of interest. In this paper, we present an approach to search for interaction effects among several variables using boosted regression trees.

Hypo- and hypercapnia predict mortality in oxygen-dependent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a population-based prospective study.

Background: The prognostic role of the arterial blood gas tension of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) in severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) remains unknown. The aim of this study was to estimate the association between PaCO2 and mortality in oxygen-dependent COPD.

Methods: National prospective study of patients starting long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) for COPD in Sweden between October 1, 2005 and June 30, 2009, with all-cause mortality as endpoint.

Safety of benzodiazepines and opioids in very severe respiratory disease: national prospective study.

Objective: To evaluate the safety of benzodiazepines and opioids in patients with very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Design: Population based longitudinal consecutive cohort study.

Setting: Centres prescribing long term oxygen therapy in Sweden.

Do clinical factors explain persistent sex disparities in the use of acute reperfusion therapy in STEMI in Sweden and Canada?

Aims: This study examined clinical factors associated with sex differences in the use of acute reperfusion therapy (fibrinolysis or primary percutaneous coronary intervention) in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients, and the interaction between sex and these factors in Sweden and Canada.

Methods: Patients with STEMI in Sweden (n=32,676 from the Register of Information and Knowledge about Swedish Heart Intensive Care Admissions) were compared with similar patients in Canada (n=3375 from the Canadian Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events) for the period 2004-2008.

Results: Unadjusted vs.

Effects of cardiovascular drugs on mortality in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Rationale: Cardiovascular drugs may improve survival in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, previous studies did not account for major sources of bias, and drug effects have not been evaluated in severe COPD.

Objectives: To estimate the time-dependent effects of cardiovascular drugs on survival in oxygen-dependent COPD, accounting for immortal and immeasurable time bias.

Ciprofloxacin for 7 days versus 14 days in women with acute pyelonephritis: a randomised, open-label and double-blind, placebo-controlled, non-inferiority trial.

Background: Acute pyelonephritis is a common infection in adult women, but there is a paucity of controlled trials of its treatment and the optimum duration of antibiotic treatment has not been properly defined. We compared the efficacy of ciprofloxacin for 7 days and 14 days in women with community-acquired acute pyelonephritis.

Methods: In a prospective, non-inferiority trial undertaken at 21 centres of infectious diseases in Sweden, women (aged ≥18 years) who were not pregnant and had a presumptive diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis were randomly assigned to oral treatment with ciprofloxacin 500 mg twice daily for 7 days or 14 days.

An investigation of the co-variation in circulating levels of a large number of environmental contaminants.

We are daily exposed to many different environmental contaminants. Mixtures of these contaminants could act together to induce more pronounced effects than the sum of the individual contaminants. To evaluate the effects of such mixtures, it is of importance to assess the co-variance amongst the contaminants.

On the comparison of FROC curves in mammography CAD systems.

We present a novel method for assessing the performance of computer-aided detection systems on unseen cases at a given sensitivity level. The sampling error introduced when training the system on a limited data set is captured as the uncertainty in determining the system threshold that would yield a certain predetermined sensitivity on unseen data sets. By estimating the distribution of system thresholds, we construct a confidence interval for the expected number of false positive markings per image at a given sensitivity.