How to Choose the Right Inhaler Using a Patient-Centric Approach?

There are many different inhaler devices and medications on the market for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with over 230 drug-delivery system combinations available. However, despite the abundance of effective treatment options, the achieved disease control in clinical practice often remains unsatisfactory. In this context, a key determining factor is the match or mismatch of an inhalation device with the characteristics or needs of an individual patient.

The glomerular filtration rate estimated by new and old equations as a predictor of important outcomes in elderly patients.

Background: The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) increases with age, and new glomerular filtration rate-estimating equations have recently been validated. The epidemiology of CKD in older individuals and the relationship between a low estimated glomerular filtration rate as calculated by these equations and adverse outcomes remains unknown.

Methods: Data from the BELFRAIL study, a prospective, population-based cohort study of 539 individuals aged 80 years and older, were used.

Frailty: an emerging concept for general practice.

Ageing of the population in western societies and the rising costs of health and social care are refocusing health policy on health promotion and disability prevention among older people. However, efforts to identify at-risk groups of older people and to alter the trajectory of avoidable problems associated with ageing by early intervention or multidisciplinary case management have been largely unsuccessful. This paper argues that this failure arises from the dominance in primary care of a managerial perspective on health care for older people, and proposes instead the adoption of a clinical paradigm based on the concept of frailty.