Translating the Burden of Pollen Allergy Into Numbers: 10-Year Observational Study of Electronically Generated Symptom Data From the Patient’s Hayfever Diary in Austria and Germany

Original Paper

J Med Internet Res 2020;22(2):e16767

doi:10.2196/16767

Journal of Medical Internet Research

• Katharina Bastl¹, MSc, PhD ; 
• Maximilian Bastl¹, MSc, PhD ; 
• Karl-Christian Bergmann^2,3, MD ; 
• Markus Berger^1,4 ; 
• Uwe Berger¹, MBA 

¹Aerobiology and Pollen Information Research Unit, Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

²Foundation German Pollen Information, Berlin, Germany

³Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allerogology, Charitè Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany

⁴Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität, Salzburg, Austria

ABSTRACT

Background: Pollen allergies affect a significant proportion of the population globally. At present, Web-based tools such as pollen diaries and mobile apps allow for easy and fast documentation of allergic symptoms via the internet.

Objective: This study aimed to characterize the users of the Patient’s Hayfever Diary (PHD), a Web-based platform and mobile app, to apply different symptom score calculations for comparison, and to evaluate the contribution of organs and medications to the total score for the first time.

A meta-analysis of baseline characteristics in trials on mite allergen avoidance in asthmatics: room for improvement

• Review
• Open Access
• 
  

• Frank E. van Boven, 
• Nicolette W. de Jong, 
• Gert-Jan Braunstahl, 
• Roy Gerth van Wijk & 
• Lidia R. Arends 

Clinical and Translational Allergy volume 10, Article number: 2 (2020)

Abstract

Background

Evidence regarding the clinical effectiveness of mite allergen avoidance for the treatment of asthma is lacking. In previous meta-analyses on mite allergen control, the baseline data were not discussed in detail. This study updates and extends the existing Cochrane review by Gøtzsche and Johansen (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2008, Art. No: CD001187), with a focus on baseline asthma outcomes and allergen exposures.

Change in the symptom profile treated as asthma – two cross-sectional studies twenty years apart

• Research
• Open Access

Respiratory Research

• Mihkel Pindus, 
• Hans Orru & 
• Rain Jõgi 

Respiratory Research volume 21, Article number: 41 (2020) 

Abstract

Aims

The aims of the study were to investigate prevalence trends of respiratory symptoms, asthma and asthma treatment among young adults in Estonia and to estimate changes in symptom profile among subjects who self-report asthma attacks or use asthma medications.

Comorbidities and survival in patients with chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis

• Research
• Open Access

Respiratory Research

• Julia Wälscher, 
• Benjamin Gross, 
• Julie Morisset, 
• Kerri A. Johannson, 
• Martina Vasakova, 
• Jacques Bruhwyler & 
• Michael Kreuter 

Respiratory Research volume 21, Article number: 12 (2020) 

• details

Abstract

Introduction

Chronic Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis (cHP) is a fibrotic interstitial lung disease (ILD) resulting from repeated exposure to an offending antigen. Prognostication in cHP remains challenging, and the relationship between comorbidities and survival has yet to be characterized. The aim of this study was to describe the relationship between comorbid conditions and survival in patients with cHP.

Age-specific incidence of allergic and non-allergic asthma

• BMC Pulmonary Medicine
• Research article
• Open Access
• Open Peer Review

• Johanna Pakkasela, 
• Pinja Ilmarinen, 
• Jasmin Honkamäki, 
• Leena E. Tuomisto, 
• Heidi Andersén, 
• Päivi Piirilä, 
• Hanna Hisinger-Mölkänen, 
• Anssi Sovijärvi, 
• Helena Backman, 
• Bo Lundbäck, 
• Eva Rönmark, 
• Hannu Kankaanranta & 
• Lauri Lehtimäki 

BMC Pulmonary Medicine volume 20, Article number: 9 (2020) 

• details

Abstract

Background

Onset of allergic asthma has a strong association with childhood but only a few studies have analyzed incidence of asthma from childhood to late adulthood in relation to allergy. The purpose of the study was to assess age-specific incidence of allergic and non-allergic asthma.

Nasal Pathologies in Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnoea

Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital. 2019 Aug; 39(4): 250–256

G Magliulo 1, G Iannella 1, A Ciofalo 1, A Polimeni 2, M De Vincentiis 1, B Pasquariello 1, F Montevecchi 3, C Vicini 3

DOI: 10.14639/0392-100X-2173

Mean AHI value of patients without rhinitis and patients
with allergic rhinitis and non-allergic rhinitis diagnosis.

Summary: Nasal obstruction is a frequent condition in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Nasal obstruction leads to mouth breathing, which is thought to destabilise the upper airway and aggravate the condition. Three conditions could be considered as the cause of the nasal breathing obstruction: anatomical conditions of the nose (septum deviation, hypertrophy of the inferior turbinates), chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and chronic nasal inflammation caused by allergic rhinitis or non-allergic cellular rhinitis. In this prospective study, we present an evaluation of all these possible rhino-sinusal aspects in OSA patients to correlate different nasal pathologies with nasal obstruction.

Association between peripheral blood/bronchoalveolar lavage eosinophilia and significant oxygen requirements in patients with acute eosinophilic pneumonia

• BMC Pulmonary Medicine
• Research article
• Open Access
• Open Peer Review

• • 
    
• Joon Young Choi, 
• Jeong Uk Lim, 
• Ho Jung Jeong, 
• Ji Eun Lee & 
• Chin Kook Rhee 

BMC Pulmonary Medicine volume 20, Article number: 22 (2020)

Abstract

Background

We investigated the association between a combination of two markers, peripheral (PEC) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) eosinophil percentage (BEP), and oxygen requirements in patients with acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP).

A single reaction-diffusion equation for the multifarious eruptions of urticaria

• PLoS Comput Biol
• v.16(1); 2020 Jan
• PMC6961880

PLoS Comput Biol. 2020 Jan; 16(1): e1007590.

Sungrim Seirin-Lee, Yuhki Yanase, Shunsuke Takahagi, Michihiro Hide,

Abstract

Urticaria is a common skin disorder characterized by the rapid appearance and disappearance of local skin edema and flares with itching. It is characterized by various macroscopic skin eruptions unique to patients and/or subtypes of urticaria with respect to shape, size, color, and/or duration of eruptions. Nevertheless, the mechanism underlying multifarious eruptions in urticaria is largely unknown. The eruptions are believed to be evoked by histamine release from mast cells in the skin.