Background: Symptoms, particularly dyspnea, and activity limitation, have an impact on the health status and the ability to function normally in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Methods: To develop an electronic patient diary (eDiary), qualitative patient interviews were conducted from 2009 to 2010 to identify relevant symptoms and degree of bother due to symptoms. The eDiary was completed by a subset of 209 patients with moderate-to-severe COPD in the 26-week QVA149 SHINE study. Two morning assessments (since awakening and since the last assessment) and one evening assessment were made each day. Assessments covered five symptoms ("shortness of breath," "phlegm/mucus," "chest tightness," "wheezing," and "coughing") and two impact items ("bothered by COPD" and "difficulty with activities") and were scored on a 10-point numeric scale.
Results: Patient compliance with the eDiary was 90.4% at baseline and 81.3% at week 26. Correlations between shortness of breath and impact items were >0.95. Regression analysis showed that shortness of breath was a highly significant (P<0.0001) predictor of impact items. Exploratory factor analysis gave a single factor comprising all eDiary items, including both symptoms and impact items. Shortness of breath, the total score (including five symptoms and two impact items), and the five-item symptom score from the eDiary performed well, with good consistency and reliability. The eDiary showed good sensitivity to change, with a 0.6 points reduction in the symptoms scores (on a 0-10 point scale) representing a meaningful change.
Conclusion: The eDiary was found to be valid, reliable, and responsive. The high correlations obtained between "shortness of breath" and the ratings of "bother" and "difficulty with activities" confirmed the relevance of this symptom in patients with COPD. Future studies will be required to explore further psychometric properties and their ability to differentiate between COPD treatments.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S73092 | DOI Listing |
EClinicalMedicine
October 2024
Centre for Psychedelic Research, Division of Psychiatry, Department Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom.
Background: Psilocybin therapy (PT) produces rapid and persistent antidepressant effects in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the long-term effects of PT have never been compared with gold-standard treatments for MDD such as pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy alone or in combination.
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Biosci Microbiota Food Health
July 2024
Department of Gastroenterological and Transplant Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Science, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
In end-stage kidney disease requiring hemodialysis, patients at nutritional risk have a poor prognosis. The gut microbiota is important for maintaining the nutritional status of patients. However, it remains unclear whether an altered gut microbiota correlates with increased nutritional risk in patients undergoing hemodialysis.
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December 2024
Pediatrics, Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College, Hospital, and Research Centre, Dr. D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University), Pune, IND.
Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) is a rare Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) variant. The global incidence of GBS is approximately one to two in 100,000 children (aged 0 to 15 years) per year. Miller Fisher syndrome represents a further small subset, with the incidence being one to two in 1,000,000 children.
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Department of Urology, Chung-Ang University Hospital, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of silodosin in female patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTSs), addressing the limited evidence supporting alpha-blocker use in this population.
Methods: A 12-week, single-arm, prospective, open-label study was conducted from May 2021 to January 2023. Female patients aged over 18 with an International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) ≥ 8 were enrolled and treated with silodosin (8 mg once daily).
Diagn Progn Res
January 2025
Department of Clinical Medicine, Hammel Neurorehabilitation Centre-University Research Clinic, Aarhus University, Voldbyvej 15, 8450, Hammel, Denmark.
Background: The initial theme of the PROGRESS framework for prognosis research is termed overall prognosis research. Its aim is to describe the most likely course of health conditions in the context of current care. These average group-level prognoses may be used to inform patients, health policies, trial designs, or further prognosis research.
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