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Objective: Assessing the effectiveness of the Assessment of Burden of COPD (ABC) tool on disease-specific quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) measured with the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), compared with usual care.
Methods: A pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial, in 39 Dutch primary care practices and 17 hospitals, with 357 patients with COPD (postbronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio <0.7) aged ≥40 years, who could understand and read the Dutch language. Healthcare providers were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. The intervention group applied the ABC tool, which consists of a short validated questionnaire assessing the experienced burden of COPD, objective COPD parameter (eg, lung function) and a treatment algorithm including a visual display and treatment advice. The control group provided usual care. Researchers were blinded to group allocation during analyses. Primary outcome was the number of patients with a clinically relevant improvement in SGRQ score between baseline and 18-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes were the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC; a measurement of perceived quality of care).
Results: At 18-month follow-up, 34% of the 146 patients from 27 healthcare providers in the intervention group showed a clinically relevant improvement in the SGRQ, compared with 22% of the 148 patients from 29 healthcare providers in the control group (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.08 to 3.16). No difference was found on the CAT (-0.26 points (scores ranging from 0 to 40); 95% CI -1.52 to 0.99). The PACIC showed a higher improvement in the intervention group (0.32 points (scores ranging from 1 to 5); 95% CI 0.14 to 0.50).
Conclusions: This study showed that use of the ABC tool may increase quality of life and perceived quality of care.
Trial Registration Number: NTR3788; Results.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011519 | DOI Listing |
Arthritis Rheumatol
September 2025
Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center; Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
Objective: To evaluate the clinical characteristics, social deprivation, insurance coverage, and medication use across regional subsets of patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in the US.
Methods: A cross-sectional study of PsA patients in the Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) registry between January 2020 and March2023 was conducted. Distribution of high disease activity (HDA - RAPID3>12), high comorbidity (RxRisk ≥90 percentile), high Area Deprivation Index (ADI ≥80), insurance coverage, prednisone ≥10mg daily, and all DMARD therapies across geographic regions were evaluated.
Histol Histopathol
September 2025
Center for Experimental Teaching, School of Pharmacy, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Background: The aim of this study was to establish a rat model of premature ovarian failure (POF) with cyclophosphamide (CTX), and explore the molecular basis of POF and the mechanism of Guishen-Erxian Decoction (GSEXD) to improve POF from the perspective of oxidative stress regulation of ovarian granulosa cell (OGC) DNA fragmentation.
Method: The study utilized SD rats to establish a POF model via CTX. Rats were divided into Control, POF group, three GSEXD dosage groups (low, medium, high), and a GSEXD+PI3K agonist group to assess GSEXD's therapeutic effects on oxidative stress, DNA fragmentation and ovarian damage.
Stroke
September 2025
Departments of Radiology and Neurology, Neuroprotection Research Laboratories, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston (E.L., R.M.P., K.H., E.H.L., E.E.).
Background: Despite promising preclinical results, remote limb ischemic postconditioning efficacy in human stroke treatment remains unclear, with mixed clinical trial outcomes. A potential reason for translational difficulties could be differences in circadian rhythms between nocturnal rodent models and diurnal humans.
Methods: Male C57BL/6J mice were subjected to transient focal cerebral ischemia and then exposed to remote postconditioning during their active or inactive phase and euthanized at 24 hours and 3 days.
Drug Alcohol Rev
September 2025
The Prescription Drug Misuse Education and Research (PREMIER) Center, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
Introduction: Buprenorphine is effective for opioid use disorder (OUD), yet adherence remains suboptimal. This study aimed to identify adherence trajectories, explore their predictors, and assess their association with opioid overdose risk and healthcare costs.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Merative MarketScan Commercial Database, which includes a nationally representative sample of individuals with private, employer-sponsored health insurance in the United States.
Circ Cardiovasc Interv
September 2025
Keele Cardiovascular Research Group, Keele University, United Kingdom (M.A.M., R.B.).
Background: Evidence informing clinical guidelines assumes that all transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) devices have similar effectiveness, in other words, displaying a class effect across TAVI valves. We aimed to assess the comparative effectiveness of different TAVI platforms relative to other TAVI counterparts or surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR).
Methods: MEDLINE/Embase/CENTRAL were searched from inception until April 2025, for randomized controlled trials comparing outcomes with different commercially available TAVI devices relative to other TAVI counterparts or SAVR.