Publications by authors named "Katharina Dworzynski"

Importance: Pathogenic variants (PVs) in BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, RAD51C, RAD51D, and BRIP1 cancer susceptibility genes (CSGs) confer an increased ovarian cancer (OC) risk, with BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, RAD51C, and RAD51D PVs also conferring an elevated breast cancer (BC) risk. Risk-reducing surgery, medical prevention, and BC surveillance offer the opportunity to prevent cancers and deaths, but their cost-effectiveness for individual CSGs remains poorly addressed.

Objective: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of prevention strategies for OC and BC among individuals carrying PVs in the previously listed CSGs.

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Article Synopsis
  • Acne vulgaris is a prevalent skin condition that can lead to psychosocial issues, with various treatment options ranging from topical therapies to oral medications; NICE evaluates cost-effectiveness in their guidelines.
  • A decision-analytical model was used to compare the costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) of different treatments for acne from the NHS perspective, utilizing data from a network meta-analysis and expert opinions.
  • The study found that all treatments were more cost-effective than placebo, with topical combinations and photochemical therapy being the best for mild-to-moderate acne and oral isotretinoin plus others for moderate-to-severe cases, but results showed some uncertainty due to wide confidence intervals.
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Background: Various treatments for acne vulgaris exist, but little is known about their comparative effectiveness in relation to acne severity.

Objectives: To identify best treatments for mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe acne, as determined by clinician-assessed morphological features.

Methods: We undertook a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing topical pharmacological, oral pharmacological, physical and combined treatments for mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe acne, published up to May 2020.

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Objectives: To determine the cost-effectiveness of natriuretic peptide (NP) testing and specialist outreach in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) residing off the cardiology ward.

Methods: We used a Markov model to estimate costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) for patients presenting to hospital with suspected AHF. We examined diagnostic workup with and without the NP test in suspected new cases, and we examined the impact of specialist heart failure outreach in all suspected cases.

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Many stroke survivors, despite improvements in mortality and morbidity, remain dependent on others for everyday activities. People with stroke need access to effective specialist multidisciplinary rehabilitation services that are organised and integrated within the whole system of health and social care. They also commonly come under the care of generalists in various clinical contexts, including intercurrent illness.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of different serum natriuretic peptides (BNP, NTproBNP, and MRproANP) in diagnosing acute heart failure based on established guidelines.
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis included 37 unique study cohorts, analyzing a total of 15,263 test results to assess diagnostic accuracy.
  • Results showed high sensitivity and negative predictive values for BNP and NTproBNP at recommended lower thresholds, indicating their reliability in diagnosing acute heart failure.
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Objective: This study aimed to explore sex differences in autistic traits in relation to diagnosis, to elucidate factors that might differentially impact whether girls versus boys meet diagnostic criteria for autism or a related autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Method: Data from a large population-based sample of children were examined. Girls and boys (aged 10-12 years) meeting diagnostic criteria for an ASD were compared with those failing to meet diagnostic criteria despite very high scores on a trait measure of ASD, the Childhood Autism Spectrum Test (CAST).

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Stuttering affects approximately 5% of children up to the teenage years. There are many possible forms of intervention, one of which is pharmacotherapy. No review about the treatment of stuttering with pharmacological agents in children and adolescents has been undertaken.

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Background: It has been questioned whether the process of twinning might be a risk factor for autism spectrum conditions (ASC) and autistic traits.

Aim: We sought to determine whether autistic traits and probable disorder, as measured by the Childhood Autism Spectrum Test (CAST), were more pronounced in twins compared to singletons.

Samples: Data were analyzed from two large population-based samples of UK children, twins (n = 5,142 twin pairs, aged 8 years) and singletons (n = 2,805, aged 5-9 years).

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Aim: A deficit in non-word repetition (NWR), a measure of short-term phonological memory proposed as a marker for language impairment, is found not only in language impairment but also in reading impairment. We evaluated the strength of association between language impairment and reading impairment in children with current, past, and no language impairment and assessed any differential impairment of NWR, compared with two other tests of verbal memory in children with language impairment with and without reading impairment.

Method: Our sample comprised children aged 6-16y 11mo participating in a study of the genetics of language impairment: 78 children from 68 families (53 males, 25 females) with current language impairment (C-LI), compared with their 74 siblings: 25 children (18 males, seven females) with a past history of language impairment and 49 children (27 males, 22 females) who had never had a language impairment.

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Prenatal and neonatal events were reported by parents of 13,690 eighteen-month-old twins enrolled in the Twins Early Development Study, a representative community sample born in England and Wales. At ages 7-8, parents and teachers completed questionnaires on social and nonsocial autistic-like features and parents completed the Childhood Asperger Syndrome Test. Correlations between prenatal and neonatal events and autistic-like features were weak, both in the whole sample (r = .

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We investigated the relationship between challenging behavior and co-morbid psychopathology in adults with intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) (N=124) as compared to adults with ID only (N=562). All participants were first time referrals to specialist mental health services and were living in community settings. Clinical diagnoses were based on ICD-10 criteria and presence of challenging behavior was assessed with the Disability Assessment Schedule (DAS-B).

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