Respiratory medicine
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Respiratory medicine · Jan 2014
Assessing exertional dyspnea in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Dyspnea is a hallmark symptom of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and dyspnea induced physical activity limitation is a prominent driver of quality of life impairment among IPF patients. ⋯ The first 21 items from the UCSD compose a unidimensional dyspnea-with-activity scale and are both sensibly ordered and distinguished from each other by their METS values. These 21 items can be used confidently to formulate clinically-relevant inferences about IPF patients and should be considered for use as a meaningful endpoint in IPF research.
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Respiratory medicine · Jan 2014
Evaluation of multidimensional COPD-related subjective fatigue following a pulmonary rehabilitation programme.
Subjective fatigue has been recognised as an important, multi-component symptom in COPD. Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) improves fatigue component of the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire, a quality of life (QoL) measure. However, it is not clear if all fatigue dimensions are affected equally. This study aims to evaluate changes in subjective multidimensional fatigue among people with COPD who participated in PR. ⋯ Some dimensions of fatigue in COPD are modifiable by a 7-week PR programme. Change in fatigue dimensions in COPD may be associated with a change in maximal or endurance walking distances or QoL.
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Respiratory medicine · Jan 2014
Observational StudyReal world experiences: pirfenidone is well tolerated in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a debilitating condition with life expectancy of two to five years from diagnosis. Treatment strategies for IPF are disappointingly limited and pirfenidone is currently the only licensed drug that has been shown to reduce the decline in forced vital capacity (FVC) at six months. We demonstrate our experience in prescribing pirfenidone in a single centre observational study of forty patients involved in a named patient programme (NPP) from September 2011 to January 2013. ⋯ Twenty three of 40 (58%) patients experienced predominantly gastrointestinal adverse effects. Importantly we have enhanced patient adherence and compliance from an initial discontinuation rate of six patients (15%) at the beginning of the study to a zero discontinuation rate in the subsequent ten months. This study shows that in the real world pirfenidone is well tolerated and with expert regular specialist review adherence can be optimised and improved.
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Respiratory medicine · Jan 2014
Physical activity and longitudinal change in 6-min walk distance in COPD patients.
The 6-min walk distance (6MWD) is widely used to evaluate functional capacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). ⋯ Patients in GOLD stage II maintained their functional capacity assessed by 6MWD over 3 years, while it was significantly reduced for patients in GOLD stages III and IV. Level of physical activity and FEV1 were predictors for longitudinal change in functional capacity.
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Respiratory medicine · Jan 2014
The host immune response contributes to Haemophilus influenzae virulence.
There is compelling evidence that infections with non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) are associated with exacerbations in COPD patients. However, NTHi has also been isolated frequently during clinically stable disease. In this study we tested the hypothesis that genetically distinct NTHi isolates obtained from COPD patients differ in virulence which could account for dissimilarities in the final outcome of an infection (stable vs. exacerbation). ⋯ Results suggest that the individual immune reactivity might be an important predictor for the clinical outcome (exacerbation vs. no exacerbation) following NTHi infection.