Self-management interventions for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Self-management interventions help people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to acquire and practise the skills they need to carry out disease-specific medical regimens, guide changes in health behaviour and provide emotional support to enable them to control their disease. Since the 2014 update of this review, several studies have been published.

Objectives: Primary objectives To evaluate the effectiveness of COPD self-management interventions compared to usual care in terms of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and respiratory-related hospital admissions.

Predictive value of Borrelia burgdorferi IgG antibody levels in patients referred to a tertiary Lyme centre.

A two-step testing strategy is recommended in serological testing for Lyme borreliosis; positive and indeterminate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) results are confirmed with immunoblots. Several ELISAs quantify the concentration of antibodies tested, however, no recommendation exists for an upper cut-off value at which an IgG ELISA is sufficient and the immunoblot can be omitted. The study objective was to determine at which IgG antibody level an immunoblot does not have any additional predictive value compared to ELISA results.

Depressive Symptoms in Patients Referred to a Tertiary Lyme Center: High Prevalence in Those Without Evidence of Lyme Borreliosis.

Background: Controversy exists whether mood disorders, such as depression, are associated with Lyme borreliosis (LB). The study objective was to assess prevalence of depressive symptoms in subgroups of patients referred to a tertiary Lyme center, to investigate whether depressive symptoms can be used in clinical practice to discriminate for LB.

Methods: This cohort study included adult patients who visited a tertiary Lyme center between January 2008 and December 2014.

Self-management interventions including action plans for exacerbations versus usual care in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) self-management interventions should be structured but personalised and often multi-component, with goals of motivating, engaging and supporting the patients to positively adapt their behaviour(s) and develop skills to better manage disease. Exacerbation action plans are considered to be a key component of COPD self-management interventions. Studies assessing these interventions show contradictory results.

Prehospital paths and hospital arrival time of patients with acute coronary syndrome or stroke, a prospective observational study.

Background: Patients with a presumed diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or stroke may have had contact with several healthcare providers prior to hospital arrival. The aim of this study was to describe the various prehospital paths and the effect on time delays of patients with ACS or stroke.

Methods: This prospective observational study included patients with presumed ACS or stroke who may choose to contact four different types of health care providers.