Background: Knowing whether shift work negatively affects the immune system's response to COVID-19 vaccinations could be valuable for planning future vaccination campaigns for healthcare workers. We aimed to determine the impact of working late or night shifts on serum anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein immunoglobulin G (anti-S) antibody levels after primary SARS-CoV-2-mRNA vaccination.
Methods: To obtain detailed information on shift work, we sent a separate online questionnaire to 1475 eligible healthcare workers who participated in a prospective longitudinal study conducted in 15 healthcare institutions in Switzerland.
Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a widespread chronic disease characterised by irreversible airway obstruction [1]. Features of clinical practice and healthcare systems for COPD patients can vary widely, even within similar healthcare structures. The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) strategy is considered the most reliable guidance for the management of COPD and aims to provide treating physicians with appropriate insight into the disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often suffer from acute exacerbations. Our objective was to describe recurrent exacerbations in a GP-based Swiss COPD cohort and develop a statistical model for predicting exacerbation.
Methods: COPD cohort demographic and medical data were recorded for 24 months, by means of a questionnaire-based COPD cohort.
(1) Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its associated morbidity and mortality are a global burden on both affected patients and healthcare systems. The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) issues guidelines with the aim of improving COPD management. Previous studies reported significant variability in adherence to these recommendations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Despite the widespread use of glucocorticoids in inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, there is uncertainty about the safe cessation of long-term systemic treatment, as data from prospective trials are largely missing. Due to potential disease relapse or glucocorticoid-induced hypocortisolism, the drug is often tapered to sub-physiological doses rather than stopped when the underlying disease is clinically stable, increasing the cumulative drug exposure. Conversely, the duration of exposure to glucocorticoids should be minimized to lower the risk of side effects.
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