Publications by authors named "Matthias Froehlich"

Background: Safety recommendations for Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKi) issued by the European Medical Agency (EMA) in 2023 could potentially influence treatment patterns for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drugs, but little is known about the impact of these recommendations in routine clinical care.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the German RHADAR rheumatology database for adult patients with RA and documentation of a new therapy with a JAKi, tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi), or interleukin-6 receptor inhibitor (IL-6Ri). Data were grouped into half-yearly intervals from quarter (Q)2/2020 to Q3/2023.

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  • Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKi) have recently been approved alongside tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) and interleukin-17 inhibitors (IL-17i) as treatment options for axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), yet their real-world drug survival is under-studied.
  • A retrospective analysis of 1,222 axSpA patients, focusing on treatment initiation timing from January 2015 to October 2023, reveals median drug survival rates of 31 months for TNFi, 25 months for IL-17i, and 18 months for JAKi.
  • Higher discontinuation rates were seen for JAKi and IL-17i compared to TNFi, with
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  • Treatment options for psoriatic arthritis have expanded to include various biologic DMARDs and Janus kinase inhibitors, but real-world data on their persistence in patients is limited.
  • A study analyzed 1352 prescriptions and found that the 5-year survival rates were highest for IL-17 inhibitors (67.8%) and lowest for IL-12/23 inhibitors (46.0%), with JAKi showing a higher likelihood of discontinuation.
  • The findings suggest that patients in Germany may stick with TNFi and IL-17i longer than IL-12/23i or JAKi, potentially influenced by disease severity and other health conditions like osteoarthritis.
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Background: Patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) benefit from regular home-based exercise (HbE). In spite of recommendations, a relevant proportion of German axSpA patients does not adhere to recommended HbE practices. To enhance HbE care, we developed the novel digital therapeutic (DTx) "Axia" compliant with the European medical device regulation (MDR).

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  • The study aimed to create a standardized scoring system called the Magnetic Resonance Vasculitis Activity Score (MRVAS) to evaluate the extent of Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) using MRI images of cranial vessels and the aorta.
  • A total of 80 patients were assessed with different levels of readers (experienced and inexperienced), who rated inflammation in the vessels, leading to a score ranging from 0 to 20.
  • Results showed excellent agreement among readers in scoring inflammation levels, indicating that the MRVAS effectively allows for a reliable assessment of GCA inflammation.
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Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (aHSCT) represents an effective treatment option in patients with severe forms of systemic sclerosis (SSc) by resetting the immune system. Nevertheless, secondary autoimmune disorders and progressive disease after aHSCT might necessitate renewed immunosuppressive treatments. This is particularly challenging when organ dysfunction, i.

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Objectives: The spectrum of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) represents highly inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Patients mostly report severe physical impairment. Possible consequences for mental health have been scarcely studied.

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Background: Digital health applications/apps (DiGA) are entering many medical disciplines and have the potential to revolutionize patient care. In rheumatology, the use for axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) would be conceivable in the form of an exercise app. Therefore, a representative survey among axSpA patients was conducted to determine the need for an axSpA exercise app.

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Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (aHSCT) represents an effective treatment for systemic sclerosis (SSc), but it also can cause immunological adverse events (iAEs). Therefore, we aimed to determine the frequency of iAEs [engraftment syndrome (ES) and secondary autoimmune disorder (sAD)] and to identify potential risk factors for their development in a retrospective analysis on 22 patients similarly transplanted due to SSc. While nine patients (41%) suffered from ESs, seven sADs occurred in six patients (27%).

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Background Hypergravity may promote human hemostasis thereby increasing thrombotic risk. Future touristic suborbital spaceflight will expose older individuals with chronic medical conditions, who are at much higher thromboembolic risk compared with professional astronauts, to hypergravity. Therefore, we tested the impact of hypergravity on hemostasis in healthy volunteers undergoing centrifugation.

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Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most common primary immunodeficiency in adults. It is associated with hypogammaglobulinemia, recurring infections and autoimmune phenomena. Treatment includes immunoglobulin substitution and immunosuppressants.

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Objectives: To assess and compare sexual dysfunction (SDF) in female patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), to correlate sexual function with disease characteristics and depression, and to evaluate a short questionnaire (Qualisex) as a screening test.

Methods: Female patients with systemic sclerosis or systemic lupus erythematosus in two German tertiary university hospitals were evaluated in a prospective study. A self-designed questionnaire, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), the Qualisex, and the Beck's depression inventory were used.

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An increased listing effort represents a major problem in humans with hearing impairment. Neurodiagnostic methods for an objective listening effort estimation might support hearing instrument fitting procedures. However the cognitive neurodynamics of listening effort is far from being understood and its neural correlates have not been identified yet.

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In the framework of the European HearCom project, promising signal enhancement algorithms were developed and evaluated for future use in hearing instruments. To assess the algorithms' performance, five of the algorithms were selected and implemented on a common real-time hardware/software platform. Four test centers in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland perceptually evaluated the algorithms.

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An increased listening effort represents a major problem in humans with hearing impairment. Neurodiagnostic methods for an objective listening effort estimation could revolutionize auditory rehabilitation. However the cognitive neurodynamics of listening effort is not understood and research related its neural correlates is still in its infancy.

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Modern hearing aid fitting could be revolutionized by the availability of objective methods for the listening effort estimation. However experimental and theoretical research dealing with this subject is still in its infancy. In this paper we present first results towards a neuropsychological and neurophysical model for the objective estimation of the listening effort by electroencephalographic data.

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