Publications by authors named "Karen Oud"
Background: Many patients with severe asthma are overweight or obese, often attributed to unintentional weight gain as a side effect of oral corticosteroids (OCSs). Anti-IL-5/5Ra biologics significantly reduce OCS use, but their long-term effects on weight are unknown.
Objectives: To examine (1) weight change up to 2 years after anti-IL-5/5Ra initiation in subgroups on the basis of maintenance OCS use at start of treatment and (2) whether cumulative OCS exposure before or changes in OCS exposure during treatment are related to weight change.
Article Synopsis
- Bronchiectasis is a common issue in severe eosinophilic asthma patients, impacting disease severity, but its effect on IL-5 biologic treatment is unclear.
- A study of 97 adults showed that anti-IL-5/5Ra therapy significantly reduced asthma exacerbations and the need for oral corticosteroids (OCS).
- After one year of treatment, exacerbation rates dropped from 74.5% to 22.1%, and the number of patients on maintenance OCS decreased from 47% to 30%, highlighting the therapy's effectiveness even in those with bronchiectasis.
Background: Reslizumab, a biologic targeting IL-5, has been shown to reduce asthma exacerbations and maintenance oral corticosteroid use in randomized controlled trials and pre-post studies in patients with severe eosinophilic asthma. However, real-world effectiveness data of reslizumab are scarce, and it is unknown whether reslizumab has added value after switching from another type 2 biologic.
Objective: To evaluate (1) the real-world effectiveness of reslizumab on severe asthma exacerbations, maintenance oral corticosteroid use, and overall treatment response, both in biologic-naive patients who initiated reslizumab and in those who switched from another type 2 biologic; and (2) physicians' experience with reslizumab treatment.
Policy and practice of programmatic management of latent tuberculosis infection in The Netherlands.
J Clin Tuberc Other Mycobact Dis
May 2017
Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) screening and preventive treatment is one of the components of the World Health Organization (WHO) End TB strategy, and particularly relevant for low tuberculosis (TB) incidence countries, i.e. less than 100 TB cases per million population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Timeliness may influence emotional distress during the diagnostic phase of suspected lung cancer patients. We performed a prospective observational study to compare distress and quality of life (QoL) in two medical centres with a Rapid Outpatient Diagnostic Program (RODP) and two using conventional Stepwise Diagnostic Approach (SDA) on the basis of trained nurse-led care.
Methods: Outpatients with radiological suspicion of lung cancer completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer 30-item Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) and its 13-item Lung Cancer specific module (QLQ-LC13) upon first visit, 2 days later, thereafter weekly for 5 weeks and after 3 months.