Benralizumab in Severe Eosinophilic Asthma and Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps: The Real-World, Multi-Country RANS Observational Study.

Purpose: Real-world evidence of benralizumab effectiveness on nasal polyps (NP) and asthma outcomes in patients with severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA) and comorbid chronic rhinosinusitis with NP are limited. The objective of this study was to assess NP and asthma outcomes in benralizumab-treated patients with SEA and comorbid NP in a real-world setting.

Patients And Methods: RANS was a retrospective, multi-country observational study (ClinicalTrials.

Prevalence of Vitiligo among Children and Adolescents in the United States.

Background: Vitiligo is an autoimmune disorder that causes patchy loss of skin pigmentation. Up to 2.16% of pediatric patients may have vitiligo.

Prevalence of Vitiligo Among Adults in the United States.

Importance: Vitiligo can have profound effects on patients and is often associated with other autoimmune comorbid conditions. It is important to understand the current prevalence of vitiligo, including diagnosed, undiagnosed, and subtypes (nonsegmental and segmental).

Objective: To estimate the point prevalence of vitiligo in the US.

A Large Cross-Sectional Survey Study of the Prevalence of Alopecia Areata in the United States.

Purpose: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the development of non-scarring alopecia. The prevalence is not well known, and estimates vary considerably with no recent estimates in the United States (US). The objective of this study was to define the current AA point prevalence estimate among the general population in the US overall and by severity.

A real-world, multi-site, observational study of infusion time and treatment satisfaction with rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with intravenous golimumab or infliximab.

Objectives: To assess real-world infusion times for golimumab (GLM-IV) and infliximab (IFX) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and factors associated with treatment satisfaction.

Methods: An observational study assessed infusion time including: clinic visit duration, RA medication preparation and infusion time, and infusion process time. Satisfaction was assessed by a modified Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (patient) and study-specific questionnaires (patient and clinic personnel).

Fibromyalgia Outcomes Over Time: Results from a Prospective Observational Study in the United States.

Background: Longitudinal research on outcomes of patients with fibromyalgia is limited.

Objective: To assess clinician and patient-reported outcomes over time among fibromyalgia patients.

Methods: At enrollment (Baseline) and follow-up (approximately 2 years later), consented patients were screened for chronic widespread pain (CWP), attended a physician site visit to determine fibromyalgia status, and completed an online questionnaire assessing pain, sleep, function, health status, productivity, medications, and healthcare resource use.

Progression of fibromyalgia: results from a 2-year observational fibromyalgia and chronic pain study in the US.

Background: A previous fibromyalgia (FM) research reports that 20%-47% of diagnosed patients may not meet the study definition of FM 1-2 years after diagnosis. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the progression of FM in a geographically diverse cohort over a 2-year time period.

Methods: This cohort study followed 226 subjects recruited online to assess FM and chronic widespread pain (CWP) diagnosis stability over time.

The Comparative Burden of Chronic Widespread Pain and Fibromyalgia in the United States.

Background/purpose: Little information exists on the comparative patient and economic burden of chronic widespread pain (CWP) and fibromyalgia (FM) in the United States.

Methods: This multistage, observational study included an online screening survey of a large geographically diverse US sample to assess CWP status, a physician/site visit to determine FM diagnosis, and an online subject questionnaire to capture clinical characteristics, pain, health status, functioning, sleep, healthcare resource use (HRU), productivity, and costs. Based on the screener and physician evaluation, mutually exclusive groups of subjects without CWP (CWP-), with CWP but without FM (CWP+), and with confirmed FM were identified.

Exact, distribution free confidence intervals for late effects in censored matched pairs.

When comparing censored survival times for matched treated and control subjects, a late effect on survival is one that does not begin to appear until some time has passed. In a study of provider specialty in the treatment of ovarian cancer, a late divergence in the Kaplan-Meier survival curves hinted at superior survival among patients of gynecological oncologists, who employ chemotherapy less intensively, when compared to patients of medical oncologists, who employ chemotherapy more intensively; we ask whether this late divergence should be taken seriously. Specifically, we develop exact, permutation tests, and exact confidence intervals formed by inverting the tests, for late effects in matched pairs subject to random but heterogeneous censoring.

An Algorithm for Optimal Tapered Matching, With Application to Disparities in Survival.

In a tapered matched comparison, one group of individuals, called the focal group, is compared to two or more nonoverlapping matched comparison groups constructed from one population in such a way that successive comparison groups increasingly resemble the focal group. An optimally tapered matching solves two problems simultaneously: it optimally divides the single comparison population into nonoverlapping comparison groups and optimally pairs members of the focal group with members of each comparison group. We show how to use the optimal assignment algorithm in a new way to solve the optimally tapered matching problem, with implementation in R.