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- Isenberg, D., et al.
(författare)
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Study of Flare Assessment in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Based on Paper Patients
- 2018
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Ingår i: Arthritis Care and Research. - : Wiley. - 2151-464X .- 2151-4658. ; 70:1, s. 98-103
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: To determine the level of agreement of disease flare severity (distinguishing severe, moderate, and mild flare and persistent disease activity) in a large paper-patient exercise involving 988 individual cases of systemic lupus erythematosus. Methods: A total of 988 individual lupus case histories were assessed by 3 individual physicians. Complete agreement about the degree of flare (or persistent disease activity) was obtained in 451 cases (46%), and these provided the reference standard for the second part of the study. This component used 3 flare activity instruments (the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group [BILAG] 2004, Safety of Estrogens in Lupus Erythematosus National Assessment [SELENA] flare index [SFI] and the revised SELENA flare index [rSFI]). The 451 patient case histories were distributed to 18 pairs of physicians, carefully randomized in a manner designed to ensure a fair case mix and equal distribution of flare according to severity. Results: The 3-physician assessment of flare matched the level of flare using the 3 indices, with 67% for BILAG 2004, 72% for SFI, and 70% for rSFI. The corresponding weighted kappa coefficients for each instrument were 0.82, 0.59, and 0.74, respectively. We undertook a detailed analysis of the discrepant cases and several factors emerged, including a tendency to score moderate flares as severe and persistent activity as flare, especially when the SFI and rSFI instruments were used. Overscoring was also driven by scoring treatment change as flare, even if there were no new or worsening clinical features. Conclusion: Given the complexity of assessing lupus flare, we were encouraged by the overall results reported. However, the problem of capturing lupus flare accurately is not completely solved.
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- Bernsten, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
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Improving the well-being of elderly patients via community pharmacy-based provision of pharmaceutical care : a multicentre study in seven European countries
- 2001
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Ingår i: Drugs & Aging. - 1170-229X .- 1179-1969. ; 18:1, s. 63-77
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: This study aimed to measure the outcomes of a harmonised, structured pharmaceutical care programme provided to elderly patients: (greater than or equal to 65 years of age) by community pharmacists in a multicentre international study performed in 7 European countries. Design and setting: The study was a randomised, controlled. longitudinal, clinical trial with repeated measures performed over an Is-month period. A total of 104 intervention and 86 control pharmacy sites participated in the research and 1290 intervention patients and 1164 control patients were recruited into the study. Main outcome measures and results: A general decline in health-related quality of lift: over time was observed in the pooled data; however, significant improvements were achieved in patients involved in the pharmaceutical care programme in some countries. Intervention patients reported better control of their medical conditions as a result of the study and cost savings associated with pharmaceutical care provision were observed in most countries. The new structured service was well accepted by intervention patients and patient satisfaction with the services improved during the study. The pharmacists involved in providing pharmaceutical care had a positive opinion on the new approach, as did the majority of general practitioners surveyed. The positive effects appear to have been achieved via social and psychosocial aspects of the intervention, such as the increased support provided by community pharmacists, rather than via biomedical mechanisms. Conclusions: This study is the first large-scale, multicentre study to investigate the effects of pharmaceutical care provision by community pharmacists to elderly patients. Future research methodology and implementation will be informed by the experience gained from this challenging trial.
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- Kalaitzakis, Evangelos, et al.
(författare)
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Diagnostic utility of single-user peroral cholangioscopy in sclerosing cholangitis.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1502-7708 .- 0036-5521. ; 49:10, s. 1237-1244
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract Objective. To evaluate the diagnostic utility of single-operator peroral cholangioscopy (SOC) in patients with sclerosing cholangitis. Methods. All patients with sclerosing cholangitis who underwent SOC procedures due to suspicious biliary strictures, in one Swedish and four UK tertiary centers in 2008-2012, were retrospectively enrolled. For each SOC procedure in sclerosing cholangitis, another one attempted due to a single biliary stricture in the same center and calendar year was randomly selected as control. Patients were followed up until death or last clinic visit until November 2012. Results. Fifty-four SOC procedures were attempted in 52 sclerosing cholangitis patients (48 with primary sclerosing cholangitis, 4 with IgG4-related sclerosing cholangitis). Cannulation with the SOC system failed more frequently in sclerosing cholangitis (15% vs. 2% in controls; p = 0.015). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of SOC (including tissue sampling) for cancer diagnosis were similar in sclerosing cholangitis and controls (50% vs. 55%, 100% vs. 97%, and 88% vs. 80%, respectively) with largely overlapping confidence intervals. Adverse events were more common in sclerosing cholangitis, due to an increased frequency of cholangitis (11% vs. 2% in controls; p = 0.051). Conclusions. SOC is equally accurate in cancer diagnosis in sclerosing cholangitis and patients with single biliary strictures. However, cholangioscope insertion may be hampered by bile duct narrowing and post-SOC cholangitis is more common in sclerosing cholangitis.
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