Publications by authors named "Helena Pite"

Background: There is no global agreement on the definition of Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria (CSU) remission.

Objective: To generate a consensus for clinical definitions in CSU focused on remission.

Methods: The World Allergy Organization (WAO) Urticaria Committee systematically reviewed current available longitudinal articles.

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Monitoring is a major component of asthma management in children. Regular monitoring allows for diagnosis confirmation, treatment optimization, and natural history review. Numerous factors that may affect disease activity and patient well-being need to be monitored: response and adherence to treatment, disease control, disease progression, comorbidities, quality of life, medication side-effects, allergen and irritant exposures, diet and more.

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Introduction: Adolescence is a critical stage of rapid biological, emotional and social change and development. Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with asthma and allergies need to develop the knowledge and skills to self-manage their health independently. Healthcare professionals (HCP), parents and their wider network play an essential role in supporting AYA in this process.

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Allergy and respiratory disorders are common in young athletic individuals. In the context of elite sport, it is essential to secure an accurate diagnosis in order to optimize health and performance. It is also important, however, to consider the potential impact or consequences of these disorders, in recreationally active individuals engaging in structured exercise and/or physical activity to maintain health and well-being across the lifespan.

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread across the world. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the question of whether asthma is a risk factor for getting the infection or for poor outcomes motivated a great debate. In the field of severe asthma and its treatment during COVID-19 pandemic, several issues are also pending.

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Background: Although well described in adults, there are scarce and heterogeneous data on the diagnosis and management of chronic urticaria (CU) in children (0-18 years) throughout Europe. Our aim was to explore country differences and identify the extent to which the EAACI/GA²LEN/EDF/WAO guideline recommendations for pediatric urticaria are implemented.

Methods: The EAACI Task Force for pediatric CU disseminated an online clinical survey among EAACI pediatric section members.

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Background: The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has developed a guideline to provide evidence-based recommendations for healthcare professionals to support the transitional care of adolescents and young adults (AYA) with allergy and/or asthma. The goal of this work was to ensure that the draft recommendations are also important for patients.

Methods: We surveyed patients aged 11-25 years with allergy and/or asthma and their parents across Europe between 17 February and 16 March 2020.

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Article Synopsis
  • Bronchial asthma is a common chronic disease impacting people of all ages, characterized by various subtypes that can affect treatment and prognosis.
  • * Research on asthma phenotypes, using clinical and inflammatory parameters, is crucial for developing personalized treatment strategies, while metabolomics studies provide insight into the metabolic features associated with different asthma types.
  • * Despite progress, more in-depth, well-structured research is needed to explore asthma phenotypes effectively, including the integration of metabolomics into a comprehensive approach.
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Introduction: Clinical recommendations for childhood asthma are often based on data extrapolated from studies conducted in adults, despite significant differences in mechanisms and response to treatments. The Paediatric Asthma in Real Life (PeARL) Think Tank aspires to develop recommendations based on the best available evidence from studies in children. An overview of systematic reviews (SRs) on paediatric asthma maintenance management and an SR of treatments for acute asthma attacks in children, requiring an emergency presentation with/without hospital admission will be conducted.

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Asthma is a fairly common health problem for pregnant women and a potentially serious medical condition that may complicate pregnancy. Most complications are related to lack of disease control, which can adversely affect both maternal quality of life and perinatal outcomes. In this article, we review recent literature concerning asthma in pregnancy, describing the course of the disease and associated complications.

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Purpose Of Review: Self-management education in asthma can dramatically reduce asthma morbidity, but specific pediatric challenges need to be addressed. The purpose of this review is to discuss the most recent and significant advances regarding self-management interventions in pediatric asthma.

Recent Findings: Recent evidence supports school-based programs including asthma self-management skills for children to significantly improve asthma control.

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Background: Transition from parent-delivered to self-management is a vulnerable time for adolescents and young adults (AYA) with allergy and asthma. There is currently no European guideline available for healthcare professionals (HCPs) on transition of these patients and local/national protocols are also mostly lacking.

Methods: European HCPs working with AYA with allergy and asthma were invited to complete an online survey assessing challenges of working with these patients, current transition practices and access to specific healthcare resources.

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The increasing knowledge of the mechanisms involved in metabolism is shifting the paradigms by which the pathophysiology of many pulmonary diseases is understood. Metabolic dysfunction is recognized in obesity-associated asthma, but other metabolic conditions have been shown to be independently related to asthma. Novel insights have also recently been brought by metabolomics in this filed.

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Adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients need additional support, while they experience the challenges associated with their age. They need specific training to learn the knowledge and skills required to confidently self-manage their allergies and/or asthma. Transitional care is a complex process, which should address the psychological, medical, educational and vocational needs of AYA in the developmentally appropriate way.

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Background: Asthma affects the lives of hundred million people around the World. Despite notable progresses in disease management, asthma control remains largely insufficient worldwide, influencing patients' wellbeing and quality of life. Poor patient handling of inhaling devices has been identified as a major persistent problem that significantly reduces inhaled drugs' efficacy and is associated with poor adherence to treatment, impairing clinical results such as asthma control and increasing disease-related costs.

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Even though respiratory viruses are one of the most common triggers for asthma exacerbations, not all of these viruses affect patients equally. There is no strong evidence supporting that patients with asthma have a higher risk of becoming seriously ill from coronavirus disease 2019 (CO-VID-19), although recent reports from the USA and the UK suggest that asthma is much more common in children and adults with mild to severe COVID-19 than has previously been reported in Asia and in Europe. As in previous severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreaks, patients with asthma, especially children, appear to be less susceptible to the coronavirus with a low rate of asthma exacerbations.

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Background: This systematic review aimed to review the literature on interventions for improving self-management and well-being in adolescents and young adults (11-25 years) with asthma and allergic conditions.

Methods: A systematic literature search was undertaken across eight databases. References were checked by two reviewers for inclusion.

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Background: Pediatric asthma remains a public health challenge with enormous impact worldwide.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify and prioritize unmet clinical needs in pediatric asthma, which could be used to guide future research and policy activities.

Methods: We first identified unmet needs through an open-question survey administered to international experts in pediatric asthma who were members of the Pediatric Asthma in Real Life Think Tank.

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Background: Adolescence represents a vulnerable time for individuals with asthma and allergic conditions. They suffer an unexpected degree of morbidity. This systematic review aimed to understand the challenges faced by adolescents and young adults with these conditions.

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Purpose Of Review: Metabolomics has been used to uncover the metabolic signatures of asthma, both for biomarker identification and pathophysiologic mechanisms research. We aimed to review recent advances in this field, published since 2016, and discuss these findings implications to future research and application into clinical practice.

Recent Findings: Experimental asthma models and clinical studies in both children and adults supported independent metabolic signatures of asthma.

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Background: Predicting long-term outcomes in individuals with childhood wheezing is of major clinical relevance.

Objective: To identify and characterize childhood wheezing phenotypes related to asthma persistence in adolescence with a multidimensional statistical model, independent of predefined hypotheses.

Methods: This prospective cohort study included 308 children, ages < 7 years, with recurrent wheezing.

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