Publications by authors named "Robert S Zeiger"

Article Synopsis
  • Indolent systemic mastocytosis (ISM) is the most common form of systemic mastocytosis, and its diagnostic challenges and impact on patients' lives need more examination.
  • A survey of 40 adults with ISM revealed a lengthy diagnosis process, averaging over two years, with many patients experiencing severe symptoms that negatively affected their quality of life and work ability.
  • The study found a strong correlation between symptom severity and physical/mental health scores, highlighting that those with moderate to severe symptoms suffered significantly more from skin and gastrointestinal issues compared to those with mild symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Systemic mastocytosis (SM) is a rare disease affecting about 32,000 people in the U.S., often misdiagnosed due to vague symptoms and the necessity for invasive tests.
  • A study of 116 patients revealed that the majority had indolent SM, with a significant average delay of 58.3 months for diagnosis, and some patients progressed to more advanced forms.
  • The findings emphasize the need for better awareness and understanding of SM to improve diagnosis and treatment, suggesting that further studies are necessary to establish effective follow-up care for patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Social determinants of health have a significant impact on asthma outcomes, and factors such as income level and neighborhood environment have crucial roles.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of the Neighborhood Deprivation Index (NDI) and Total Crime Index (TCI) on acute asthma exacerbation (AAE) and asthma-related emergency department and urgent care (ED/UC) visits in adults with mild asthma.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study used administrative data from Kaiser Permanente Southern California among 198,873 adult patients with mild asthma between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2018.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The peanut basophil activation test (BAT) has demonstrated excellent diagnostic accuracy with heparinized blood, but its clinical utility is limited by the short stability of samples stored in this anticoagulant.

Objective: Using EDTA anticoagulated blood, these investigations determined if Peanut BAT sample stability can be extended to 2 days, the minimum stability requirement for diagnostic tests currently offered through American reference laboratories.

Methods: Peanut non-allergic control (NAC), peanut IgE sensitized (PS), and peanut allergic (PA) children aged 6 months through 17 years were recruited from members of Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Although individuals with mild asthma account for 30% to 40% of acute asthma exacerbations (AAEs), relatively little attention has been paid to risk factors for AAEs in this population.

Objective: To identify risk factors associated with AAEs in patients with mild asthma.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Complex models combining impairment-based control assessments with clinical characteristics and biomarkers have been developed to predict asthma exacerbations. The composite Asthma Impairment and Risk Questionnaire (AIRQ) with adjustments for demographics (age, sex, race, and body mass index) predicts 12-month exacerbation occurrence similarly to these more complex models.

Objective: To examine whether AIRQ exacerbation prediction is enhanced when models are adjusted for a wider range of clinical characteristics and biomarkers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) with 12 SQ house dust mile SLIT-tablet (HDM SLIT-tablet) for dust mite-induced perennial allergic rhinitis is reported as effective and safe. Although serious allergic reactions (SARs) and eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) have infrequently occurred under trial conditions, the safety of HDM SLIT-tablet challenge under real-world conditions is unknown.

Objective: Our aim was to estimate the incidence of SARs and EoE due to HDM SLIT-tablet challenge.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: National and international asthma guidelines and reports do not include control tools that combine impairment assessment with exacerbation history in one instrument.

Objective: To analyze the performance of the composite Asthma Impairment and Risk Questionnaire (AIRQ) in assessing both domains of control and predicting exacerbation risk compared with the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) 4-question symptom control tool (GINA SCT), Asthma Control Test (ACT), and physician expert opinion (EO) informed by GINA SCT responses and appraisal of GINA-identified risk factors for poor asthma outcomes.

Methods: Multivariable logistic regressions evaluated AIRQ and GINA SCT as predictors of ACT.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The Asthma Impairment and Risk Questionnaire (AIRQ) is a 10-item, yes/no, equally weighted control tool. Lower scores indicate better control. Moreover, 7 impairment items reflect previous 2-week symptoms, and 3 risk items assess previous 12-month exacerbations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Asthmatic symptoms often start during early childhood. Impulse oscillometry (IOS) is feasible in preschool children who may be unable to reliably perform spirometry measurements.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the use of IOS in a multicenter, multiethnic high-risk asthma cohort titled the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The early life microbiome plays an important role in developmental and long-term health outcomes. However, it is unknown whether adverse pregnancy complications affect the offspring's gut microbiome postnatally and in early years. In a longitudinal cohort with a five-year follow-up of mother-child pairs affected by preeclampsia (PE) or spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB), we evaluated offspring gut alpha and beta diversity as well as taxa abundances considering factors like breastfeeding and mode of delivery.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This article provides an overview of the findings obtained from the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDAART) spanning a period of 15 years. The review covers various aspects, including the trial's rationale, study design, and initial intent-to-treat analyses, as well as an explanation of why those analyses did not achieve statistical significance. Additionally, the article delves into the post hoc results obtained from stratified intent-to-treat analyses based on maternal vitamin D baseline levels and genotype-stratified analyses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Dupilumab has shown long-term treatment benefits in children with uncontrolled asthma. We assessed in more detail the impact of dupilumab on asthma control and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and their caregivers.

Methods: Children aged 6-11 years with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe type 2 asthma (baseline blood eosinophils ≥150 cells·µL or fractional exhaled nitric oxide ≥20 ppb; n=350) were treated with dupilumab or placebo for 52 weeks in the VOYAGE study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Problem: Promotion of a healthy pregnancy is dependent on a coordinated immune response that minimizes inflammation at the maternal-fetal interface. Few studies investigated the effect of fetal sex on proinflammatory biomarkers during pregnancy and whether maternal race could impact this association. We aimed to examine whether fetal sex could, independently of maternal race/ethnicity and the condition of pregnancy (normal vs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Associations of omega-3 fatty acids (-3) with allergic diseases are inconsistent, perhaps in part due to genetic variation. We sought to identify and validate genetic variants that modify associations of -3 with childhood asthma or atopy in participants in the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDAART) and the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood 2010 (COPSAC). Dietary -3 was derived from food frequency questionnaires and plasma -3 was measured via untargeted mass spectrometry in early childhood and children aged 6 years old.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Asthma control is often overestimated in routine practice, and despite advances in the understanding of immunopathology and the availability of new precision therapies, the burden of disease remains unacceptably high.

Objective: To compare the performance of the Asthma Impairment and Risk Questionnaire (AIRQ) with patient and physician assessments and the Asthma Control Test (ACT) in identifying asthma control.

Methods: Baseline data from a longitudinal study of the AIRQ were analyzed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Excessive weight is associated with the development of childhood asthma. However, trends among preterm and term offspring may differ.

Objective: To assess whether the association of longitudinal weight for age (WFA) and odds of asthma/recurrent wheeze in early life differs between children born preterm and those born at term.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Prenatal vitamin D deficiency is associated with asthma or recurrent wheezing in offspring. However, evidence from randomized trials on the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation is inconclusive.

Objectives: We aimed to examine the differential efficacy of prenatal vitamin D supplementation based on the maternal baseline vitamin D status and the starting time of supplementation to prevent early life asthma or recurrent wheezing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The aim of this study was to develop and validate prediction models for risk of persistent chronic cough (PCC) in patients with chronic cough (CC). This was a retrospective cohort study.

Methods: Two retrospective cohorts of patients 18-85 years of age were identified for years 2011-2016: a specialist cohort which included CC patients diagnosed by specialists, and an event cohort which comprised CC patients identified by at least three cough events.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Critical asthma outcomes highlighted in clinical guidelines include asthma-related quality of life, asthma exacerbations, and asthma control. An easy-to-implement measure of asthma control that assesses both symptom impairment and exacerbation risk and reflects the impact of asthma on patients' lives is lacking. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess the Asthma Impairment and Risk Questionnaire (AIRQ) construct validity relative to patient self-perception of asthma status and validated disease-specific patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF