Publications by authors named "Begier E"

Background: RSV is a leading cause of ARI, including CAP, in older adults. Data available often underestimate RSV-related ARI incidence. We estimated RSV-related ARI hospitalization incidence from a prospective CAP study, adjusting for undiagnosed RSV infections due to nasopharyngeal/nasal swab testing only.

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Purpose: In the setting of an established childhood pneumococcal vaccination programme with immediate initiation and treatment of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV (PLWH), the risk of adult pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is not recently described. We aimed to investigate CAP incidence, recurrence, mortality, risk factors and microbiology before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants: Adults aged ≥18 years were enrolled in three South African provinces from March 2019 to October 2021, with a brief halt during the initial COVID-19 lockdown.

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Lower respiratory tract illness or disease (LRTI/LRTD) represents a significant source of morbidity and mortality following viral respiratory illnesses, yet a consensus definition for this outcome is lacking. Recent studies of novel vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for older adults used LRTI/LRTD as the primary outcome to assess vaccine efficacy. However, the different vaccine trials have used highly variable criteria to define this outcome, leading to difficulty in comparison of vaccine efficacy results between trials.

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Importance: Clinical trials have demonstrated high vaccine efficacy (VE) against lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD) but enrolled a smaller proportion of persons aged 75 years or older and those with comorbidities than seen in highest-risk populations in clinical practice settings. Additionally, VE against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-related hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits is not yet fully described.

Objective: To estimate Respiratory Syncytial Virus Prefusion F (RSVpreF) effectiveness in older adults.

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Importance: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of acute respiratory tract infections among adults and is estimated to cause approximately 159 000 hospitalizations among adults aged 65 years and older in the US each year. Estimates of hospitalization among adults with outpatient medically attended RSV (MA-RSV) infections are required to design interventional studies that aim to prevent hospitalization.

Objective: To assess absolute risk of 28-day, all-cause hospitalization following outpatient MA-RSV infections in adults.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study analyzes the number of adult A&E visits in English hospitals from 2017-2019 linked to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), showing an annual average of 23,440 attendances.
  • - RSV-related A&E visits increased with age, peaking in those aged 75 and older, averaging 238 visits per 100,000 people in that age group.
  • - The findings may underestimate the total impact of RSV on adult A&E attendances since only respiratory issues were considered; cardiac events possibly related to RSV were not included.
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Background: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is an important pathogen causing acute respiratory illnesses in adults. RSV infection can lead to severe outcomes, including hospitalizations and even death. Despite the increased recognition of the burden in older adults, immediate post-discharge care needs among adults hospitalized with RSV are not well characterized and have not been compared to other serious medical conditions (such as influenza, acute myocardial infarction (MI), and stroke) for which there have been long-standing disease prevention efforts.

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Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD) among adults and can lead to serious morbidity and mortality; however, evidence on the magnitude of the public health and economic burden of adult RSV-LRTD is limited. This study was undertaken to project annual clinical outcomes and economic costs of medically attended RSV-LRTD among US adults, and to identify subgroups responsible for a disproportionate share of disease burden.

Methods: Clinical outcomes of RSV-LRTD were projected for subgroups of US adults defined by age and comorbidity profile (with vs.

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Introduction: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) incidence is known to be underestimated in adults due to its infrequent diagnostic testing and lower sensitivity of single nasal/nasopharyngeal swab PCR testing outside of the early childhood period. RSV can trigger acute cardiac events as well as cause respiratory disease. Consequently, we used a model-based study to estimate RSV-attributable hospitalization and mortality incidence among adults in Italy between 2015 and 2019.

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Article Synopsis
  • Older adults in nursing and care homes are at significant risk of severe RSV infections, leading to high rates of hospitalization and mortality.
  • A systematic study gathered data from multiple research databases and included 20 relevant studies that highlighted varying incidence and case fatality rates of RSV among this population.
  • Common pre-existing health issues linked to higher RSV risk included chronic respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, and dementia, indicating the importance of monitoring these individuals closely for RSV infections.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to assess the incidence and burden of acute lower respiratory tract diseases (aLRTD) in adults visiting primary care, focusing on cases potentially caused by RSV, SARS-CoV-2, and pneumococcus.
  • It involves a cohort of adults registered at six GP practices in Bristol, UK, where researchers will collect data from real-time medical records and patient interactions for detailed analysis.
  • Results will help understand clinical incidence rates, symptom severity, healthcare costs, quality of life impacts, and vaccine prevention opportunities related to aLRTD.
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Introduction: We aimed to describe the risk profile of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections among adults ≥ 60 years in Valladolid from January 2010 to August 2022, and to compare them with influenza and COVID-19 controls.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of all laboratory-confirmed RSV infections identified in centralized microbiology database during a 12-year period. We analyzed risk factors for RSV hospitalization and severity (length of stay, intensive care unit admission, in-hospital death or readmission < 30 days) and compared severity between RSV patients vs.

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Background: Pneumococcal carriage in healthy adults and its relationship to invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is not well understood.

Methods: Nasal wash samples from adults without close contact with young children (Liverpool, UK), 2011-2019, were cultured, and culture-negative samples tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Pneumococcal carriage in adults 18-44 years was compared with carriage among pneumococcal conjugate vaccine-vaccinated children aged 13-48 months (nasopharyngeal swabs, Thames Valley, UK) and national IPD data, 2014-2019.

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Introduction: Adult respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) burden is underestimated due to non-specific symptoms, limited standard-of-care and delayed testing, reduced diagnostic test sensitivity-particularly when using single diagnostic specimen-when compared to children, and variable test sensitivity based on the upper airway specimen source. We estimated RSV-attributable hospitalization incidence among adults aged ≥ 18 years in Ontario, Canada, using a retrospective time-series model-based approach.

Methods: The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences data repository provided weekly numbers of hospitalizations (from 2013 to 2019) for respiratory, cardiovascular, and cardiorespiratory disorders.

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Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of acute respiratory illness (ARI) in older adults. Optimizing diagnosis could improve understanding of RSV burden.

Methods: We enrolled adults ≥50 years of age hospitalized with ARI and adults of any age hospitalized with congestive heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations at 2 hospitals during 2 respiratory seasons (2018-2020).

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Introduction: Understanding the differences between respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) subgroups A and B provides insights for the development of prevention strategies and public health interventions. We aimed to describe the structural differences of RSV subgroups, their epidemiology, and genomic diversity. The associated immune response and differences in clinical severity were also investigated.

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Introduction: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause severe respiratory infections in adults; however, information on associated sequelae is limited. This systematic literature review aimed to identify sequelae in adults within 1 year following RSV-related hospitalization or resolution of acute infection.

Methods: Studies were identified from Embase, MEDLINE, LILACS, SciELO, and grey literature.

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Introduction: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) burden in adults is underestimated mainly due to unspecific symptoms and limited standard-of-care testing. We estimated the population-based incidence of hospitalization and mortality attributable to RSV among adults with and without risk factors in Germany.

Methods: Weekly counts of hospitalizations and deaths for respiratory, cardiovascular, and cardiorespiratory diseases were obtained (Statutory Health Insurance database, 2015-2019).

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Introduction: Estimating respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) burden in adults is challenging because of non-specific symptoms, infrequent standard-of-care testing, resolution of viral shedding before seeking medical care, test positivity that varies by specimen site in the upper airway and lower diagnostic test sensitivity compared to children. Conducting prospective observational studies to assess RSV burden in adults is time- and resource-intensive. Thus, model-based approaches can be applied using existing data to obtain more accurate estimates of RSV burden.

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Introduction: Estimating the burden of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) increasingly relies on administrative databases using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes, but no standard methodology exists. We defined best practices for ICD-based algorithms that estimate LRTI incidence in adults.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of validation studies assessing the use of ICD code-based algorithms to identify hospitalized LRTIs in adults, published in Medline, EMBASE, and LILACS between January 1996 and January 2022, according to PRISMA guidelines.

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Background: Estimates of the cost of medically attended lower respiratory tract illness (LRTI) due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in adults, especially beyond the acute phase, is limited. This study was undertaken to estimate the attributable costs of RSV-LRTI among US adults during, and up to 1 year after, the acute phase of illness.

Methods: A retrospective observational matched-cohort design and a US healthcare claims repository (2016-2019) were employed.

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Article Synopsis
  • Pneumococcus is a significant cause of lower respiratory infections in adults, and research was conducted to understand its impact on pneumonia and other lung diseases since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.
  • A study in two Bristol hospitals included over 10,000 patients with acute lower respiratory tract diseases, revealing that 11.5% had pneumococcal infections, with higher rates among older adults.
  • The study found that a substantial portion of pneumococcal cases were linked to vaccine serotypes, indicating the importance of vaccination in reducing respiratory infections in this population.
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Introduction: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes a substantial disease burden among infants. In older children and adults, incidence is underestimated due to nonspecific symptoms and limited standard-of-care testing. We aimed to estimate RSV-attributable hospitalizations and deaths in Spain during 2016-2019.

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Introduction: While it is widely recognized that older adults, adults with chronic medical conditions (CMC), and adults with immunocompromising conditions (IC) are at increased risk of lower respiratory tract illness (LRTI), evidence of the magnitude of increased risk is limited. This study was thus undertaken to characterize rates of hospitalized and ambulatory LRTI among United States (US) adults by age and comorbidity profile.

Methods: A retrospective cohort design and US healthcare claims database (2016-2019) were employed.

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Article Synopsis
  • Lyme disease (LD) is a leading tick-borne illness in Europe, and this study aims to support Pfizer and Valneva's phase III trial of their Lyme vaccine, VLA15, in the USA and Europe by evaluating LD incidence in specific areas.
  • The BOLD study will take place across 15 general practices in six European countries from Spring 2021 to December 2022, documenting suspected LD cases and collecting data to determine the overall incidence and impact of the disease.
  • Ethical approvals are in place, and the study will include participant interviews, clinical assessments, and follow-ups to analyze both LD cases and control groups over a two-year period.
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