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Introduction and objectives: Severe asthma management during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a challenge and will continue to be, at least in the next few months, as herd immunity is still a mirage. A lot has to be learned about how COVID-19 affects underlying diseases, and severe asthma is no exception. Methods: Narrative review of papers available until February 2021 in PubMed and Google Scholar, relating severe asthma and COVID-19. Four main research topics were reviewed: SARS-CoV-2 infection: immunology and respiratory pathology; interrelationship of severe asthma endotypes and COVID-19 disease mechanisms; severe asthma epidemiology and COVID-19; and biologics for severe asthma in the context of COVID-19. Results: COVID-19 disease mechanisms start with upper respiratory cell infection, and afterwards several immunological facets are activated, contributing to disease severity, namely cell-mediated immunity and antibody production. Although infrequent in the COVID-19 course some patients develop a cytokine storm that causes organ damage and may lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome or multiorgan failure. Regarding severe asthma endotypes, type2-high might have a protective role both in infection risk and disease course. There is conflicting data regarding the epidemiological relationship between COVID-19 among severe asthma patients, with some studies reporting increased risk of infection and disease course, whereas others the other way round. Biologics for severe asthma do not seem to increase the risk of infection and severe COVID-19, although further evidence is needed. Conclusions: Globally, in the era of COVID-19, major respiratory societies recommend continuing the biologic treatment, preferably in a self-home administration program. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

MASK-air® , a validated mHealth app (Medical Device regulation Class IIa) has enabled large observational implementation studies in over 58,000 people with allergic rhinitis and/or asthma. It can help to address unmet patient needs in rhinitis and asthma care. MASK-air® is a Good Practice of DG Santé on digitally-enabled, patient-centred care. It is also a candidate Good Practice of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). MASK-air® data has enabled novel phenotype discovery and characterisation, as well as novel insights into the management of allergic rhinitis. MASK-air® data show that most rhinitis patients (i) are not adherent and do not follow guidelines, (ii) use as-needed treatment, (iii) do not take medication when they are well, (iv) increase their treatment based on symptoms and (v) do not use the recommended treatment. The data also show that control (symptoms, work productivity, educational performance) is not always improved by medications. A combined symptom-medication score (ARIA-EAACI-CSMS) has been validated for clinical practice and trials. The implications of the novel MASK-air® results should lead to change management in rhinitis and asthma. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

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BackgroundThe Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has evolved as a pandemic infectious disease transmitted by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐)2. Allergists and other health care providers (HCPs) in the field of allergies and associated airway diseases are in the front line, taking care of patients potentially infected with SARS‐CoV‐2. Hence, strategies and practices to minimize risks of infection for both HCPs and treated patients have to be developed and followed by allergy clinics.MethodThe scientific information on COVID‐19 was analyzed by a literature search in Medline, Pubmed, national and international guidelines from the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), the Cochrane Library and the Internet.ResultsBased on diagnostic and treatment standards developed by EAACI, on international information regarding COVID‐19, on guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organizations as well as on previous experience, a panel of experts including clinicians, psychologists, IT experts and basic scientists along with EAACI and the “Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA)” inititiative have developed recommendations for the optimal management of allergy clinics during the current COVID‐19 pandemic. These recommendations are grouped into nine sections on different relevant aspects for the care of patients with allergies.ConclusionsThis international Position Paper provides recommendations on operational plans and procedures to maintain high standards in the daily clinical care of allergic patients whilst ensuring necessary safety in the current COVID‐19 pandemic.

Funding Information: IA reports personal fees from Roxall, Menarini, UCB, Faes Farma, Sanofi, Bial, Amgen, Abbott, Bayer, Organon. SBA reports grants from TEVA, personal fees from TEVA, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Sanofi, Mylan. JB reports personal fees from Chiesi, Cipla, Hikma, Menarini, Mundipharma, Mylan, Novartis, Sanofi‐Aventis, Takeda, Teva, Uriach, other from KYomed‐Innov, personal fees from Purina, other from MASK‐air. VC reports personal fees from Thermofisher. PCM reports personal fees from Abbvie, AZ, Bial, GSK, Mylan, Medinfar, Novartis, Sanofi. LC reports personal fees from Malesci, Menarini, Astra Zeneca, Novartis. AC reports grants and personal fees from Astrazeneca, GSK, Sanofi, personal fees from Boehringer‐Ingelheim, Chiesi, Glenmark, Novartis, personal fees from Mylan, Abdi‐Ibrahim. PD reports personal fees and non‐financial support from Stallergenes Greer, ALK‐Abello, Astra Zeneca, CHIESI, MYLAN/Meda Pharma, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, IQVIA personal fees from MENARINI. JAFonseca reports participation in SME that has mHealth technologies for patients with asthma. JCI reports personal fees from Abbott Ecuador, Bago Bolivia, Faes Farma, Laboratorios Casasco, Sanofi. LK reports grants and personal fees from Allergopharma, LETI Pharma,MEDA/Mylan, Sanofi, personal fees from HAL Allergie, Allergy Therapeut., Cassella med, grants from ALK Abelló, Stallergenes, Quintiles, ASIT biotech, Lofarma, AstraZeneca, GSK, Inmunotk, and Membership: AeDA, DGHNO, Deutsche Akademie für Allergologie und klinische Immunologie, HNO‐BV, GPA, EAACI. VK reports other from Norameda, BerlinCHemie Menarini. PK reports personal fees from Adamed, AstraZeneca, Berlin Chemie Menarini, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, GSK, Novartis, Polpharma. DLL reports personal fees from Allakos, Amstrong, Astrazeneca, Chiesi, DBV Technologies, Grunenthal, GSK, Mylan/Viatris, Menarini, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, Siegfried, UCB, Alakos, Gossamer, Carnot, grants from Sanofi, Astrazeneca, Novartis, Circassia, UCB, GSK, Purina institute, Abvvie, Lilly, Pfizer. BL reports grants and personal fees from Meda, personal fees from Glenamrk. RL reports grants and personal fees from GSK, AZ, Chiesi, personal fees from Novartis, Sanofi. MM reports personal fees from Novartis, Gsk, Menarini, Az, Chiesi, Sanofi, Pfizer. RM reports personal fees from Angelini Pharma ALK, Allergopharma, Allergy Therapeutics, Friulchem, Hexal, Servier, Klosterfrau, Bayer, FAES, GSK, MSD, Johnson&Johnson, Meda, Stada, UCB, Nuvo, Menarini, Mundipharma, Pohl‐Boskamp, Laboratoire de la Mer, Sidroga, Lek, PRO‐AdWise, grants and personal fees from Bencard, Stallergenes, Ursapharm, HAL BV, grants from Leti, Optima, BitopAG, Hulka, Inmunotek, Cassella‐med GmbH & Co. KG, ASIT biotech, grants, personal fees and non‐financial support from Lofarma, non‐financial support from Roxall, Atmos, Bionorica, Otonomy, Ferrero, personal fees and non‐financial support from Novartis. OP reports grants and personal fees from ALK‐Abelló, Allergopharma, Stallergenes Greer HAL Allergy Holding B.V./HAL Allergie GmbH, Bencard Allergie GmbH/Allergy Therapeutics, Lofarma, ASIT Biotech Tools S.A., Laboratorios LETI/LETI Pharma, Anergis S.A., GlaxoSmithKline, personal fees from MEDA Pharma/MYLAN, Mobile Chamber Experts (a GA2LEN Partner), Indoor Biotechnologies, Astellas Pharma Global, EUFOREA, ROXALL Medizin, Novartis, Sanofi‐Aventis and Sanofi‐Genzyme, Med Update Europe GmbH, streamedup! GmbH, John Wiley and Sons, AS, Paul‐Martini‐Stiftung (PMS), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., RG Aerztefortbildung, Institut für Disease Management, Springer GmbH, AstraZeneca, IQVIA Commercial, Ingress Health, grants from Pohl‐Boskamp, Inmunotek S.L., Biomay, Circassia. NGPapadopoulos reports personal fees from Novartis, Nutricia, HAL, MENARINI/FAES FARMA, SANOFI, MYLAN/MEDA, BIOMAY, AstraZeneca, GSK, MSD, ASIT BIOTECH, Boehringer Ingelheim, grants from Gerolymatos International SA, Capricare. ATB reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, GSK, Novartis, IQVIA/Abbvie, Mylan, Bial, Leti, grants and personal fees from Teva. STS reports personal fees from ERT, Roche products, Novartis, Sanofi Pharma, AstraZeneca, ALK‐ Abelló grants from Glaxo Smith Kline. IT reports grants from GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, AZ, personal fees from Novartis, Astra Zeneca, Chiesi, TZ reports Organizational affiliations: Committee member: WHO‐Initiative “Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma” (ARIA); Member of the Board: German Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI); Head: European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation (ECARF). President: Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA2LEN); Member: Committee on Allergy Diagnosis and Molecular Allergology, World Allergy Organization (WAO). Funding Information: MASK‐air® has been supported by EU grants (POLLAR, EIT Health; Structural and Development Funds, Twinning, EIP on AHA and H2020) and educational grants from Mylan‐Viatris, ALK, GSK, Novartis and Uriach 1 1 Publisher Copyright: © 2022 European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Background: Different treatments exist for allergic rhinitis (AR), including pharmacotherapy and allergen immunotherapy (AIT), but they have not been compared using direct patient data (i.e., “real-world data”). We aimed to compare AR pharmacological treatments on (i) daily symptoms, (ii) frequency of use in co-medication, (iii) visual analogue scales (VASs) on allergy symptom control considering the minimal important difference (MID) and (iv) the effect of AIT. Methods: We assessed the MASK-air® app data (May 2015–December 2020) by users self-reporting AR (16–90 years). We compared eight AR medication schemes on reported VAS of allergy symptoms, clustering data by the patient and controlling for confounding factors. We compared (i) allergy symptoms between patients with and without AIT and (ii) different drug classes used in co-medication. Results: We analysed 269,837 days from 10,860 users. Most days (52.7%) involved medication use. Median VAS levels were significantly higher in co-medication than in monotherapy (including the fixed combination azelastine-fluticasone) schemes. In adjusted models, azelastine-fluticasone was associated with lower average VAS global allergy symptoms than all other medication schemes, while the contrary was observed for oral corticosteroids. AIT was associated with a decrease in allergy symptoms in some medication schemes. A difference larger than the MID compared to no treatment was observed for oral steroids. Azelastine-fluticasone was the drug class with the lowest chance of being used in co-medication (adjusted OR = 0.75; 95% CI = 0.71–0.80). Conclusion: Median VAS levels were higher in co-medication than in monotherapy. Patients with more severe symptoms report a higher treatment, which is currently not reflected in guidelines. publishersversion published

Data de publicació electrònica: 03-11-2022 Introduction: Data from mHealth apps can provide valuable information on rhinitis control and treatment patterns. However, in MASK-air®, these data have only been analyzed cross-sectionally, without considering the changes of symptoms over time. We analyzed data from MASK-air® longitudinally, clustering weeks according to reported rhinitis symptoms. Methods: We analyzed MASK-air® data, assessing the weeks for which patients had answered a rhinitis daily questionnaire on all 7 days. We firstly used k-means clustering algorithms for longitudinal data to define clusters of weeks according to the trajectories of reported daily rhinitis symptoms. Clustering was applied separately for weeks when medication was reported or not. We compared obtained clusters on symptoms and rhinitis medication patterns. We then used the latent class mixture model to assess the robustness of results. Results: We analyzed 113,239 days (16,177 complete weeks) from 2590 patients (mean age ± SD = 39.1 ± 13.7 years). The first clustering algorithm identified ten clusters among weeks with medication use: seven with low variability in rhinitis control during the week and three with highly-variable control. Clusters with poorly-controlled rhinitis displayed a higher frequency of rhinitis co-medication, a more frequent change of medication schemes and more pronounced seasonal patterns. Six clusters were identified in weeks when no rhinitis medication was used, displaying similar control patterns. The second clustering method provided similar results. Moreover, patients displayed consistent levels of rhinitis control, reporting several weeks with similar levels of control. Conclusions: We identified 16 patterns of weekly rhinitis control. Co-medication and medication change schemes were common in uncontrolled weeks, reinforcing the hypothesis that patients treat themselves according to their symptoms.

Os agentes anestésicos representam uma causa importante de anafilaxia a fármacos, sendo os relaxantes neuromusculares (RNM) dos principais responsáveis pelos casos de anafilaxia perioperatória. O cisatracúrio é o RNM mais recente, sendo um estereoisómero do atracúrio que se acreditava não ter potencial de libertação de histamina e, consequentemente, causar menos reações alérgicas do que os outros RNM. No entanto, têm sido relatados vários casos de reação anafilática grave após administração de cisatracúrio, não existindo, do nosso conhecimento, registo na literatura de nenhum em Portugal. As autoras apresentam dois casos de anafilaxia perioperatória grave (grau 4 na escala de Ring & Messmer) com paragem cardiorrespiratória. Na investigação alergológica foram realizados testes cutâneos, cujos intradérmicos se revelaram positivos para o cisatracúrio (1:100) em ambos os doentes. É importante alertar que este RNM não será tão desprovido de potencial alergénico como previamente pensado e esse facto deve ser considerado na investigação de uma reação alérgica que ocorra durante a indução anestésica. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Although allergic diseases have become increasingly prevalent in the elderly, there are few data on this population. Through a retrospective analysis of the electronic medical records of patients aged 65 years and above followed in our Immunoallergology Unit, we aimed to characterize the immunoallergic diseases of the elderly. The most common disorders were respiratory diseases (n = 185; 50%), mucocutaneous diseases (n = 113; 31%), drug allergy (n = 31; 8%), food allergy (n = 9; 2%), and anaphylaxis (n = 9; 2%). Use of specific immunotherapy was residual (n = 2; 1%). There was an association between anaphylaxis and both, drug (p = 0.004) and food (p = 0.013) allergies. Non-allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma were more frequent in females, and ACE inhibitors/ARB induced-angioedema in males. Recognizing the characteristics of immunoallergic diseases in the elderly and the specificities of this age group is paramount in providing these patients with the best possible care. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, solo se referencian el que aparece en primer lugar, el nombre del grupo de colaboración, si le hubiere, y los autores pertenecientes a la UAM, Background: Co-medication is common among patients with allergic rhinitis (AR), but its dimension and patterns are unknown. This is particularly relevant since AR is understood differently across European countries, as reflected by rhinitis-related search patterns in Google Trends. This study aims to assess AR co-medication and its regional patterns in Europe, using real-world data. Methods: We analysed 2015–2020 MASK-air® European data. We compared days under no medication, monotherapy and co-medication using the visual analogue scale (VAS) levels for overall allergic symptoms (‘VAS Global Symptoms’) and impact of AR on work. We assessed the monthly use of different medication schemes, performing separate analyses by region (defined geographically or by Google Trends patterns). We estimated the average number of different drugs reported per patient within 1 year. Results: We analysed 222,024 days (13,122 users), including 63,887 days (28.8%) under monotherapy and 38,315 (17.3%) under co-medication. The median ‘VAS Global Symptoms’ was 7 for no medication days, 14 for monotherapy and 21 for co-medication (p, This study was funded by ARIA. MASK-air® has been supported by EU grants (EU Structural and Development grant, POLLAR: EIT Health and Structural and Development Funds) and educational grants from Mylan-Viatris, ALK, GSK, Novartis and Uriach. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL

Background: Poor medication adherence is a major challenge in asthma and objective assessment of inhaler adherence is needed. InspirerMundi app aims to monitor inhaler adherence while turning it into a positive experience through gamification and social support.Objective: We assessed the medium-term feasibility of the InspirerMundi app to monitor inhaler adherence in real-world patients with persistent asthma (treated with daily inhaled medication). In addition, we attempted to identify the characteristics of the patients related to higher app use.Methods: Two real-world multicenter observational studies, with one initial face-to-face visit and a 4-month telephone interview, were conducted in 29 secondary care centers from Portugal. During an initial face-to-face visit, patients were invited to use the app daily to register their asthma medication intakes. A scheduled intake was considered taken when patients took a photo of the medication (inhaler, blister, or others) using the image-based medication detection tool. Medication adherence was calculated as the number of doses taken as a percentage of the number scheduled. Interacting with the app ≥30 days was used as the cut-off for higher app use.Results: A total of 114 patients {median 20 [percentile 25 to percentile 75 (P25–P75) 16–36] years, 62% adults} were invited, 107 (94%) installed the app and 83 (73%) completed the 4-month interview. Patients interacted with the app for a median of 18 [3–45] days, translated on a median use rate of 15 [3–38]%. Median inhaler adherence assessed through the app was 34 [4–73]% when considering all scheduled inhalations for the study period. Inhaler adherence assessed was not significantly correlated with self-reported estimates. Median adherence for oral and other medication was 41 [6–83]% and 43 [3–73]%, respectively. Patients with higher app use were slightly older (p = 0.012), more frequently taking medication for other health conditions (p = 0.040), and more frequently prescribed long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMA, p = 0.024). After 4 months, Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test (CARAT) scores improved (p < 0.001), but no differences between patients interacting with the app for 30 days or less were seen.Conclusions: The InspirerMundi app was feasible to monitor inhaler adherence in patients with persistent asthma. The persistent use of this mHealth technology varies widely. A better understanding of characteristics related to higher app use is still needed before effectiveness studies are undertaken.

Funding Information: BSreports personal fees from Allergopharma, during the conduct of the study; grants from National Health Programm, grant, personal fees from Polpharma, ASTRA, personal fees from Mylan, Adamed, patient ombudsman, national Centre for Research and Development, Polish Allergology Society. Funding Information: NGP reports personal fees from Novartis, Nutricia, HAL, MENARINI/FAES FARMA, SANOFI, MYLAN/MEDA, BIOMAY, AstraZeneca, GSK, MSD, ASIT BIOTECH, Boehringer Ingelheim, grants from Gerolymatos International SA, Capricare. Funding Information: CA reports grants from Allergopharma, grants from Idorsia, Swiss National Science Foundation, Christine Kühne‐Center for Allergy Research and Education, European Commission's Horison's 2020 Framework Programme, Cure, Novartis Research Institutes, Astra Zeneca, scibase, advisory role in Sanofi/Regeneron, grants from Glakso Smith‐Kline, advisory role in scibase. Funding Information: MJTreports grants from European Commission, SEAIC, ISCIII, personal fees from Diater laboratory, Leti laboratory, Aimmune Therapeutics. Funding Information: LK reports grants and personal fees from Allergopharma, MEDA/Mylan, LETI Pharma, Sanofi, grants from Stallergenes, Quintiles, ASIT biotech, grants from ALK Abelló, Lofarma, AstraZeneca, GSK, Inmunotk, personal fees from Allergy Therapeut., HAL Allergie, Cassella med; and Membership: AeDA, DGHNO, Deutsche Akademie für Allergologie und klinische Immunologie, HNO‐BV, GPA, EAACI. Funding Information: DPreports grants and personal fees from GlaxoSmithKline, personal fees from Menarini, Pliva, Belupo, AbbVie, Novartis, MSD, Chiesi, Revenio, personal fees and non‐financial support from Boehringer Ingelheim, non‐financial support from Philips. Funding Information: OP reports grants and personal fees from ALK‐Abelló, Allergopharma, Stallergenes Greer, HAL Allergy Holding B.V./HAL Allergie GmbH, Bencard Allergie GmbH/Allergy Therapeutics, Lofarma, ASIT Biotech Tools S.A., Laboratorios LETI/LETI Pharma, Anergis S.A., Glaxo Smith Kline, grants from Biomay, Circassia, Pohl‐Boskamp, Inmunotek S.L., personal fees from MEDA Pharma/MYLAN, Mobile Chamber Experts (a GA2LEN Partner), Indoor Biotechnologies, Astellas Pharma Global, EUFOREA, ROXALL Medizin, Novartis, Sanofi‐Aventis and Sanofi‐Genzyme, Med Update Europe GmbH, streamedup! GmbH, John Wiley and Sons, AS. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved. publishersversion published

Background Poor medication adherence is a major challenge in asthma, and objective assessment of inhaler adherence is needed. The InspirerMundi app aims to monitor adherence while providing a positive experience through gamification and social support. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the InspirerMundi app to monitor medication adherence in adolescents and adults with persistent asthma (treated with daily inhaled medication). Methods A 1-month mixed method multicenter observational study was conducted in 26 secondary care centers from Portugal and Spain. During an initial face-to-face visit, physicians reported patients’ asthma therapeutic plan in a structured questionnaire. During the visits, patients were invited to use the app daily to register their asthma medication intakes. A scheduled intake was considered taken when patients registered the intake (inhaler, blister, or other drug formulation) by using the image-based medication detection tool. At 1 month, patients were interviewed by phone, and app satisfaction was assessed on a 1 (low) to 5 (high) scale. Patients were also asked to point out the most and least preferred app features and make suggestions for future app improvements. Results A total of 107 patients (median 27 [P25-P75 14-40] years) were invited, 92.5% (99/107) installed the app, and 73.8% (79/107) completed the 1-month interview. Patients interacted with the app a median of 9 (P25-P75 1-24) days. At least one medication was registered in the app by 78% (77/99) of patients. A total of 53% (52/99) of participants registered all prescribed inhalers, and 34% (34/99) registered the complete asthma therapeutic plan. Median medication adherence was 75% (P25-P75 25%-90%) for inhalers and 82% (P25-P75 50%-94%) for other drug formulations. Patients were globally satisfied with the app, with 75% (59/79) scoring ≥4,; adherence monitoring, symptom monitoring, and gamification features being the most highly scored components; and the medication detection tool among the lowest scored. A total of 53% (42/79) of the patients stated that the app had motivated them to improve adherence to inhaled medication and 77% (61/79) would recommend the app to other patients. Patient feedback was reflected in 4 major themes: medication-related features (67/79, 85%), gamification and social network (33/79, 42%), symptom monitoring and physician communication (21/79, 27%), and other aspects (16/79, 20%). Conclusions The InspirerMundi app was feasible and acceptable to monitor medication adherence in patients with asthma. Based on patient feedback and to increase the registering of medications, the therapeutic plan registration and medication detection tool were redesigned. Our results highlight the importance of patient participation to produce a patient-centered and engaging mHealth asthma app.

O uso crescente de medicação ocular levou ao aparecimento de um maior número de reações de hipersensibilidade (RH) associadas à mesma. Estas são, na sua maioria, RH tipo IV e, mais raramente, imediatas. Os agentes envolvidos são diversos, desde substâncias ativas dos colírios midriáticos (CM), a substâncias inativas (conservantes). Apresenta‑se o caso clínico de um doente com suspeita de RH imediata e não imediata a medicação ocular tópica (tropicamida 10mg/ml, fenilefrina 100mg/ml e ciclopentolato 10mg/ml), cuja investigação incluiu realização de testes cutâneos por picada (TCP) e testes epicutâneos (TE) com os fármacos referidos. Os TCP foram positivos para ciclopentolato no imediato e para fenilefrina às 48 e 96 horas. Os TE foram positivos às 48 e 96 horas para fenilefrina. De acordo com estes resultados, assumiu‑se RH a fenilefrina e ciclopentolato, sendo realizada prova de provocação ocular (PPO) com tropicamida, que o doente tolerou. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

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Background: Data on risk factors for uncontrolled asthma in preschool children are controversial. Objective: This study aims to explore the association between clinical and functional parameters and the lack of asthma control in preschool children. Methods: Children aged 3-5 years with asthma and healthy controls were recruited. A questionnaire was used to identify potential risk factors for uncontrolled asthma, as defined by the Global INitiative for Asthma criteria. Lung function and bronchial reversibility were evaluated through impulse oscillometry and spirometry. Adjusted odds ratios were estimated based on multivariable generalized additive regression models. The discriminative ability of the models was measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: The study population comprised 121 children (107 with asthma and 14 healthy controls). Fifty-three patients (50%) had uncontrolled asthma. After adjustment, the variables associated with an increased risk of lack of control were as follows: “More than 3 flare-ups in the last 12 months”, “Moderate to severe rhinitis”, and “Relative variation in postbronchodilator FVC and FEV1”. The AUC of the final models that included variation in FVC or FEV1 were 0.82 and 0.81, respectively. The R5-20, R5-20%, and AX z-score values of the healthy group were lower than those of children with asthma. Conclusion: In preschool children, clinical and functional parameters are associated with uncontrolled asthma. More studies are needed to confirm the usefulness of impulse oscillometry. Key words: Asthma. Asthma control. Lung function tests. Preschool asthma. Risk factors.

We aimed to identify persistent asthma phenotypes among adolescents and to evaluate longitudinally asthma-related outcomes across phenotypes. Adolescents (13&ndash, 17 years) from the prospective, observational, and multicenter INSPIRERS studies, conducted in Portugal and Spain, were included (n = 162). Latent class analysis was applied to demographic, environmental, and clinical variables, collected at a baseline medical visit. Longitudinal differences in clinical variables were assessed at a 4-month follow-up telephone contact (n = 128). Three classes/phenotypes of persistent asthma were identified. Adolescents in class 1 (n = 87) were highly symptomatic at baseline and presented the highest number of unscheduled healthcare visits per month and exacerbations per month, both at baseline and follow-up. Class 2 (n = 32) was characterized by female predominance, more frequent obesity, and uncontrolled upper/lower airways symptoms at baseline. At follow-up, there was a significant increase in the proportion of controlled lower airway symptoms (p &lt, 0.001). Class 3 (n = 43) included mostly males with controlled lower airways symptoms, at follow-up, while keeping symptom control, there was a significant increase in exacerbations/month (p = 0.015). We have identified distinct phenotypes of persistent asthma in adolescents with different patterns in longitudinal asthma-related outcomes, supporting the importance of profiling asthma phenotypes in predicting disease outcomes that might inform targeted interventions and reduce future risk.

The Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative started more than 20 years ago and has developed and disseminated evidence-based guidelines and projects in the field of allergic rhinitis. This initiative is currently focused on providing patient-centred guidelines that contribute to an integrated care pathway between the various levels of care and take advantage of digital solutions, and the introduction of integrated care pathways in clinical practice has been recommended. In this article we describe the adaptation for Portugal of the ARIA Integrated Care Pathways document. After a brief review of the epidemiology and impact of allergic rhinitis in Portugal and the activities carried out in Portugal within the ARIA initiative, we describe the broad knowledge base used for the development of recommendations for the pharmacological treatment of allergic rhinitis, and these recommendations are based on the GRADE methodology, real world evidence acquired by mobile technology (mHealth) and resulting from allergenic exposure chamber studies. What follows is a summary of integrated care pathways for allergen immunotherapy produced in 2019. Allergen immunotherapy is considered an example of precision medicine where the use of mHealth technologies will improve stratification for patient selection and response monitoring. These recommendations were considered as best practices of integrated patient-centred care supported by digital systems from Directorate General for Health and Food Safety of the European Union (DG Santé) and represent the ARIA Phase 4 Change Management strategy.A iniciativa Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) teve início há mais de 20 anos e tem elaborado e disseminado orientações baseadas em evidência, e desenvolvido projetos na área da rinite alérgica. Esta iniciativa está atualmente focada em proporcionar orientações centradas no doente que contribuam para um percurso integrado entre os vários níveis de cuidados e que tirem partido de soluções digitais, tendo sido recomendada a introdução na prática clínica de percursos assistenciais integrados. Neste artigo descrevemos a adaptação para Portugal do documento ARIA Integrated Care Pathways. Após breve revisão sobre a epidemiologia e o impacto da rinite alérgica em Portugal e das atividades realizadas em Portugal no âmbito da iniciativa ARIA, é descrito o conjunto alargado de conhecimento utilizado para o desenvolvimento das recomendações para o tratamento farmacológico da rinite alérgica, recomendações essas baseadas na metodologia GRADE, evidência do mundo real adquirida por tecnologia móvel (mHealth) e resultante de estudos de câmara de exposição alergénica. Em seguida, são resumidos os percursos assistenciais integrados para imunoterapia com alergénios produzidas em 2019. Considera-se a imunoterapia com alergénios um exemplo de medicina de precisão e em que a utilização de tecnologias mHealth permitirá melhorar a estratificação para seleção dos doentes e monitorização da resposta. Estas recomendações foram consideradas como ‘boas práticas’ dos cuidados integrados centrados no doente apoiados por sistemas digitais da DG Santé (Direção Geral de Saúde e de Segurança Alimentar da União Europeia) e representam a estratégia de gestão da mudança da fase 4 do ARIA.

Introduction. The Test for Respiratory and Asthma Control in Kids (TRACK) is a tool to assess asthma control in preschool children. This study aims to validate the Portuguese from Portugal version of the TRACK questionnaire. Methods. A prospective cohort study was carried out to assess their psychometric characteristics. Caregivers of 141 children under age 5 with asthma symptoms were enrolled. Results. Internal reliability was close to 0.70 (Cronbach's α). The test-retest reliability was 0.87. TRACK scores were different between well, partially, and non-controlled asthma groups (p less than 0.001). Patients rated as having better control showed an increase in TRACK scores. Conclusions. The Portuguese version of the TRACK questionnaire is accurate and reliable for monitoring asthma control. Its use may help to overcome challenges with the management of this age group. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This work was financially supported by the projects: (i) UID/ EQU/00511/2019 - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy − LEPABE funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); (ii) POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029702 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER031297 funded by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020 − Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizaca̧ õ (POCI) and by national funds (PIDDAC) through FCT/ MCTES; (iii) AstraZeneca − Projecto OLDER (CEDOC/ 2015/59); (iv) iNOVA4Health - UID/Multi/04462/2013, financially supported by FCT/Ministerio da Educação e Ciência, and co-funded by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. Separation techniques hyphenated to high-resolution mass spectrometry are essential in untargeted metabolomic analyses. Due to the complexity and size of the resulting data, analysts rely on computer-assisted tools to mine for features that may represent a chromatographic signal. However, this step remains problematic, and a high number of false positives are often obtained. This work reports a novel approach where each step is carefully controlled to decrease the likelihood of errors. Datasets are first corrected for baseline drift and background noise before the MS scans are converted from profile to centroid. A new alignment strategy that includes purity control is introduced, and features are quantified using the original data with scans recorded as profile, not the extracted features. All the algorithms used in this work are part of the Finnee Matlab toolbox that is freely available. The approach was validated using metabolites in exhaled breath condensates to differentiate individuals diagnosed with asthma from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. With this new pipeline, twice as many markers were found with Finnee in comparison to XCMS-online, and nearly 50% more than with MS-Dial, two of the most popular freeware for untargeted metabolomics analysis. publishersversion published

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Introdução: O tipo polínico Cupressaceae tem interesse aerobiológico e clinico, sendo reconhecida a alergia a este tipo polínico, considerado responsável pelas alergias de inverno, principalmente nos países mediterrânicos. Objetivo: Analisar a prevalência e o comportamento aerobiólogico do pólen de Cupressáceas (tipo polínico Cupressaceae) em Portugal. Material e métodos: Para o estudo utilizaram-se os dados da Rede Portuguesa de Aerobiologia (RPA) da SPAIC relativos ao tipo polínico Cupressaceae e os dados dos parâmetros meteorológicos de 2002 a 2017 dos 9 centros de monitorização (continente e ilhas). Analisou-se a relação dos fatores meteorológicos sobre os níveis atmosféricos de pólen de Cupressáceas por correlação de Spearman’s. Resultados: O tipo polínico Cupressaceae é um dos mais abundantes na atmosfera das cidades portuguesas, com uma representação no total do espetro polínico que variou entre 5 % (Portimão) e 24 % (Coimbra e Vila Real). Este tipo polínico registou-se no ar durante praticamente todo o ano. Porém, em termos médios, apresentou uma estação de polinização de duração média em geral com início em dezembro/janeiro e término em março/abril diferente consoante a localidade/região e o ano. Os níveis mais elevados deste pólen observaram-se em Vila Real, Évora e Coimbra. Verificou-se uma significativa influência das variáveis meteorológicas sobre as contagens deste pólen, muito em particular da temperatura, seguida da radiação global e insolação. Conclusão: Dada a predominância deste pólen no ar durante um longo período de tempo e o seu potencial alergénico, é útil e relevante a divulgação da informação deste estudo, a fim de se poder correlacionar com eventuais sensibilizações e sintomatologia de polinose. Importa salientar que, em Portugal, os níveis mais elevados deste pólen atmosférico se registam no inverno e início de primavera e que a alergia a este tipo de pólen terá certamente maior frequência neste período. Introduction: Cupressaceae pollen type is considered a cause of pollen allergy in winter, throughout the world, mainly in the Mediterranean countries. Objective: To analyze the prevalence and aerobiological behavior of Cupressaceae pollen (Cupressaceae pollen type) in Portugal. Material and methods: This study used Cupressaceae pollen data of the Portuguese Aerobiology Network (RPA-SPAIC) and meteorological data, from 2002 to 2017, of 9 monitoring centers (mainland and islands). The influence of meteorological factors on Cupressaceae airborne pollen concentrations was analyzed by Spearman’s correlation. Results: Cupressaceae pollen type is one of the most abundant pollen types in the atmosphere of Portuguese cities with a representation in the pollen spectrum ranging from 5% (Portimão) to 24% (Coimbra and Vila Real). This pollen type was recorded during all year but, in average terms, Cupressaceae pollen season was of medium duration: in general began in December/January and ended in March/April, depending on the region and the year. The highest pollen levels were observed in Vila Real, Évora and Coimbra. It was observed a clear influence of the meteorological variables on the Cupressaceae pollen counts, in particular of the temperature followed by global radiation and sunshine. Conclusion: Given the predominance of this pollen in the air over a long period of time and its allergenic potential, the dissemination of the information from this study is useful and relevant in order to correlate with possible sensitization and symptomatology of pollinosis. It should be noted that in Portugal, the highest levels of airborne Cupressacea pollen occur in winter and early spring and that allergy to this pollen type will certainly be more frequent during this period.

Os eosinófilos participam na defesa do hospedeiro como células do sistema imune inato, mas estão também associados a diversas patologias. Recentemente, tem-se questionado se a acumulação destas células em patologias associadas a eosinofilia tem apenas efeitos patológicos ou se desempenha também um papel nos mecanismos de resposta homeostáticos. A interleucina-5 (IL-5) é a principal citocina envolvida na produção e atividade dos eosinófilos. Os anticorpos monoclonais anti-interleucina-5 (mepolizumab e reslizumab) e antirrecetor da IL-5 (benralizumab) encontram-se atualmente aprovados para o tratamento da asma grave de fenótipo eosinofílico, proporcionando benefícios a nível da redução de sintomas e melhoria da qualidade de vida destes doentes. No futuro, é expectável um aumento da abrangência das indicações terapêuticas destes fármacos. Neste artigo de revisão pretende-se reunir a mais recente evidência referente ao papel dos eosinófilos e da IL-5 na resposta inflamatória e às principais características dos anticorpos monoclonais anti-IL-5/IL-5R. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In the last years, disease classification of chronic respiratory diseases (CRD) has been vivaciously discussed and new concepts have been introduced, namely asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) overlap (ACO). Controversially the GOLD consensus document of 2020 considered that we should no longer refer to ACO, as they constitute two different diseases that may share some common traits and clinical features. The treatable traits approach has numerous strengths that are applicable to several levels of health care. In this paper we review the application of the treatable traits to CRD and describe in detail the ones already identified in patients with asthma and COPD. Treatable traits in CRD can be divided in pulmonary, extra-pulmonary and behavior/lifestyle risk factors. Patients with both asthma and COPD patients have clearly recognized treatable traits in all these subtopics but it is notorious the severe and frequent exacerbations, the associated cardiovascular disease and the low health related quality of life and productivity of these patients. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The reference sites of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) were renewed in 2019. The DG Santé good practice Mobile Airways Sentinel networK was reviewed to meet the objectives of the EIP on AHA. It included 1) Management of care process, 2) Blueprint of digital transformation, 3) EIP on AHA, innovation to market, 4) Community for monitoring and assessment framework, 5) Political, organizational, technological and financial readiness, 6) Contributing to European co-operation and transferability, 7) Delivering evidence of impact against the triple win approach, 8) Contribution to the European Digital Transformation of Health and Care and 9) scale of demonstration and deployment of innovation. ispartof: ALLERGY ASTHMA & IMMUNOLOGY RESEARCH vol:12 issue:2 pages:238-258 ispartof: location:Korea (South) status: published

Copyright © 2018 Ana Sá-Sousa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., The Portuguese Severe Asthma Registry (Registo de Asma Grave Portugal, RAG) was developed by an open collaborative network of asthma specialists. RAG collects data from adults and pediatric severe asthma patients that despite treatment optimization and adequate management of comorbidities require step 4/5 treatment according to GINA recommendations. In this paper, we describe the development and implementation of RAG, its features, and data sharing policies. The contents and structure of RAG were defined in a multistep consensus process. A pilot version was pretested and iteratively improved. The selection of data elements for RAG considered other severe asthma registries, aiming at characterizing the patient's clinical status whilst avoiding overloading the standard workflow of the clinical appointment. Features of RAG include automatic assessment of eligibility, easy data input, and exportable data in natural language that can be pasted directly in patients' electronic health record and security features to enable data sharing (among researchers and with other international databases) without compromising patients' confidentiality. RAG is a national web-based disease registry of severe asthma patients, available at asmagrave.pt. It allows prospective clinical data collection, promotes standardized care and collaborative clinical research, and may contribute to inform evidence-based healthcare policies for severe asthma., RAG was financed by an unrestricted grant from Novartis Farma-Produtos Farmacêuticos, S.A., which had no participation in any part of the development and implementation of the registry and has no access to the stored data for any purpose. The first author is financed by a PhD Grant (PD/BD/113665/2015) and financed by the European Social Fund and national funds of MCTES (Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior) through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P) PhD Programme Ref. PD/0003/2013-Doctoral Programme in Clinical and Health Services Research (PDICSS). Te publication of this article was supported by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the operation POCI-01-0145- FEDER-007746 funded by the Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização – COMPETE2020 and by National Funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia within CINTESIS, R&D Unit (reference UID/IC/4255/2013).

Background: Spirometry is the single most important test for the evaluation of the respiratory function. The results are interpreted by comparing measured data with predicted values previously obtained from a reference population. Reference equations for spirometry have been discussed previously. The aim of this study was to compare reference values based on National Health and Nutrition Assessment Survey (NHANES III), European Community of Steel and Coal (ECSC), and Global Lung Initiative (GLI) equations in an elderly sample population. Methods: Subjects from the Geriatric Study on Health Effects of Air Quality in elder care centers who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled. Spirometry was performed according to international guidelines. The forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 s, and the FEV1/FVC ratio was reported as percentages of the predicted value, and the lower limit of normality was calculated. Results: Out of 260 elderly patients, 69.6% were women; the mean age was 83.0 ± 6.46 years with an age range of 65-95 years. The lowest %FVC and %FEV1 values were obtained using the GLI reference equations. However, when NHANES III equations were used, the FEV1/FVC ratio was higher than ratios obtained from GLI and ECSC equations. The prevalence of airway obstruction was highest using ECSC equations, while GLI equations demonstrated more restrictive defects. Conclusions: The present study showed meaningful differences in the reference values, and consequently, in the results obtained using NHANES III, ECSC, and GLI reference equations. The spirometry interpretation was also influenced by the reference equations used. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The use of Apps running on smartphones and tablets profoundly affects medicine. The MASK-rhinitis (MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel NetworK for allergic rhinitis) App (Allergy Diary) assesses allergic rhinitis symptoms, disease control and impact on patients' lives. It is freely available in 20 countries (iOS and Android platforms). AIMS: To assess in a pilot study whether (i) Allergy Diary users were able to properly provide baseline characteristics (ii) simple phenotypic characteristics based upon data captured by the Allergy Diary could be identified and (iii) information gathered by this study could suggest novel research questions. METHODS: The Allergy Diary users were classified into six groups according to the baseline data that they entered into the App: (i) asymptomatic; (ii) nasal symptoms excluding rhinorrhea; (iii) rhinorrhea; (iv) rhinorrhea plus 1-2 nasal/ocular symptoms; (v) rhinorrhea plus ≥3 nasal/ocular symptoms; and (vi) rhinorrhea plus all nasal/ocular symptoms. RESULTS: By 1 June 2016, 3260 users had registered with the Allergy Diary and 2710 had completed the baseline questionnaire. Troublesome symptoms were found mainly in the users with the most symptoms. Around 50% of users with troublesome rhinitis and/or ocular symptoms suffered work impairment. Sleep was impaired by troublesome symptoms and nasal obstruction. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first App (iOS and Android) to have tested for allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis. A simple questionnaire administered by cell phones enables the identification of phenotypic differences between a priori defined rhinitis groups. The results suggest novel concepts and research questions in allergic rhinitis that may not be identified using classical methods info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Objective: We aimed to compare patient's and physician's ratings of inhaled medication adherence and to identify predictors of patient-physician discordance. Design: Baseline data from two prospective multicentre observational studies. Setting: 29 allergy, pulmonology and paediatric secondary care outpatient clinics in Portugal. Participants: 395 patients (≥13 years old) with persistent asthma. Measures: Data on demographics, patient-physician relationship, upper airway control, asthma control, asthma treatment, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and healthcare use were collected. Patients and physicians independently assessed adherence to inhaled controller medication during the previous week using a 100 mm Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Discordance was defined as classification in distinct VAS categories (low 0-50; medium 51-80; high 81-100) or as an absolute difference in VAS scores ≥10 mm. Correlation between patients' and physicians' VAS scores/categories was explored. A multinomial logistic regression identified the predictors of physician overestimation and underestimation. Results: High inhaler adherence was reported both by patients (median (percentile 25 to percentile 75) 85 (65-95) mm; 53% VAS>80) and by physicians (84 (68-95) mm; 53% VAS>80). Correlation between patient and physician VAS scores was moderate (rs=0.580; p

O eczema atópico (EA) é uma doença inflamatória crónica muito frequente em idade pediátrica. Na maioria dos casos o controlo clínico é alcançado com o recurso a hidratação adequada (emolientes) e a medicação tópica (corticosteroides tópicos, inibidores da calcineurina tópicos) embora exista um subgrupo de doentes com EA grave que não responde ao tratamento convencional ou que tem recidivas após a redução do mesmo. Quando não se verifica uma melhoria sintomática apesar de uma boa adesão ao tratamento e de um plano terapêutico adequado, pode considerar-se a utilização de imunomoduladores e de outros agentes sistémicos. Este trabalho tem por objetivo rever a informação disponível na literatura sobre o tratamento sistémico do EA grave em idade pediátrica. Atopic eczema (AE) is a chronic inflammatory disease very common in children. In most cases, clinical control is achieved with adequate hydration (emollients) and topical treatment (topical corticosteroids, topical calcineurin inhibitors) but there is a subgroup of patients with severe AE unresponsive to treatment or who experience relapse after reduction of anti-inflammatory instopical treatment. When there is no clinical improvement despite a good compliance and an adequate treatment plan, immunomodulators and other systemic agents could be considered. This paper aim is to review the information available in the literature on systemic treatment of severe AE in children.

There is a paucity of information regarding chronic urticaria patients' care in a real-world setting. The objective of this study was to report and evaluate the baseline characteristics of Portuguese chronic urticaria patients refractory to H1-antihistamines included in the AWARE study.This is a non-interventional cohort study. Adult patients with a diagnosis of chronic urticaria with symptoms for at least two months, refractory to H1-antihistamines, consulting one of the 10 participating urticaria centers throughout Portugal have been included in the study. Baseline sociodemographic data, medical history, clinical parameters, medication, weekly urticaria activity score, and dermatology quality of life index have been collected.Seventy six patients were included, of which 76.3% were women. The majority of patients had a diagnosis of chronic spontaneous urticaria (88.2%) and 39.5% had angioedema. Around 91.0% of patients were medicated with non-sedative H1-antihistamines and 35.4% with a third line therapy. Median dermatology quality of life index was 5.0 and median weekly urticaria activity score was 13.0.The baseline results suggest that patients with chronic urticaria refractory to H1-antihistamines are being under-treated in the real-world setting.The AWARE study demonstrates the real impact of chronic urticaria on Portuguese patients refractory to H1-antihistamines treatment, and 30% report a very large or extremely large deleterious effect on their quality of life. The follow-up of these patients will allow evaluating strategies aimed at optimizing disease control.Introdução: A informação sobre os doentes com urticária crónica em ambiente de vida real é escassa e este estudo teve por objectivo reportar e avaliar as características basais dos doentes portugueses com urticária crónica refractários aos anti-histamínicos H1 incluídos no estudo AWARE. Material e Métodos: Estudo de coorte não intervencional. Foram incluídos doentes adultos com diagnóstico de urticária crónica sintomáticos durante pelo menos dois meses, refratários aos anti-histamínicos H1, seguidos em 10 centros de urticária em Portugal. Foram recolhidos dados basais sociodemográficos, história clínica, parâmetros clínicos, medicação, índice semanal de atividade de urticária e índice de qualidade de vida dermatológico. Resultados: Foram incluídos 76 doentes, dos quais 76,3% mulheres. A maioria dos doentes estava diagnosticado com urticária crónica espontânea (88,2%) e 39,5% apresentavam angioedema. Cerca de 91,0% dos doentes estavam medicados com anti-histamínicos H1 não sedativos e 35,4% com terapêuticas de terceira linha. A mediana do índice de qualidade de vida dermatológico foi 5,0 e a mediana do índice semanal de atividade de urticária foi 13,0. Discussão: Os resultados basais sugerem que os doentes com urticária crónica refratários ao tratamento com anti-histamínicos H1 estão sub-tratados em ambiente de vida real. Conclusão: O estudo AWARE vem demonstrar o real impacto da urticária crónica nos doentes portugueses refratários ao tratamento com anti-histamínicos H1 onde mais de 30% reporta um impacto elevado ou extremamente elevado da doença na sua qualidade de vida. O seguimento destes doentes permitirá avaliar estratégias para otimização do controlo da doença.

Submitted by Biblioteca SESARAM (repositorio@sesaram.pt) on 2021-03-09T18:58:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 What Physical Education Teachers Know About asthma.impact of a training course.pdf: 529332 bytes, checksum: ecdfd77927c2d1e275571dc8ab31e6f1 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2021-03-09T18:58:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 What Physical Education Teachers Know About asthma.impact of a training course.pdf: 529332 bytes, checksum: ecdfd77927c2d1e275571dc8ab31e6f1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The selection of pharmacotherapy for patients with allergic rhinitis aims to control the disease and depends on many factors. Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) guidelines have considerably improved the treatment of allergic rhinitis. However, there is an increasing trend toward use of real-world evidence to inform clinical practice, especially because randomized controlled trials are often limited with regard to the applicability of results. The Contre les Maladies Chroniques pour un Vieillissement Actif (MACVIA) algorithm has proposed an allergic rhinitis treatment by a consensus group. This simple algorithm can be used to step up or step down allergic rhinitis treatment. Next-generation guidelines for the pharmacologic treatment of allergic rhinitis were developed by using existing GRADE-based guidelines for the disease, real-world evidence provided by mobile technology, and additive studies (allergen chamber studies) to refine the MACVIA algorithm. ispartof: JOURNAL OF ALLERGY AND CLINICAL IMMUNOLOGY vol:145 issue:1 pages:70-+ ispartof: location:United States status: published

Introduction and objectives Drug provocation tests (DPTs) are the gold-standard method to diagnose non-immediate hypersensitivity reactions (NIHSR) to beta-lactam antibiotics (BL) in children. Our aim was to compare the negative predictive value (NPV) of one-day (short) DPT versus 3–7 days (extended) DPT for the diagnosis of NIHSR to BL in paediatric age. A secondary aim was to compare confidence on drug re-exposure after short and extended negative DPTs. Methods The occurrence of HSR on drug re-exposure and drug refusal after negative diagnostic DPTs were evaluated in children/adolescents with a history of NIHSR to BL using a questionnaire performed six months to ten years after DPT. Patients were divided into two groups according to the protocol performed: short DPT vs. extended DPT. Results We enrolled 212 children and adolescents (86 females, 126 males, mean age at DPT 5.52 years, p25 = 3 years, p75 = 7.25 years): 69 tested with short DPT, and 143 with extended DPT. The NPV of both types of DPT together was 95.2%. The NPV of short DPT was 97.5% and the NPV of extended DPT was 93.8% (p = 0.419). After negative DPT, beta-lactams were refused by carers in 14.75% of the children requiring subsequent treatment, 6.98% in the short DPT group and 18.99% in the extended DPT group (p = 0.074). Conclusions In our paediatric sample, prolonging drug administration did not increase the NPV of diagnostic DPT for NIHSR to BL or reduce drug refusal. Altogether, the data here reported suggest that, however intuitive, prolonging DPT is not beneficial in the parameters analysed.

Funding: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by AstraZeneca – Projecto OLDER (CEDOC/2015/59) and Finnee Project (PTDC/CCI-BIO/29702/2017). Though the approach used to classify chronic respiratory diseases is changing to a treatable-traits (TT) approach, data regarding very elderly patients is lacking. The objectives of this study were to assess TT frequency in very elderly patients and to study the link between extrapulmonary TT and ventilatory defects. Individuals (≥75 years) residing in elderly care centres answered a standardised questionnaire, underwent spirometry, atopy and fractional exhaled nitric oxide assessments and had their blood pressure and peripheral pulse oximetry measured. Pulmonary, extrapulmonary and behavioural TT were evaluated. Outcome variables were an airflow limitation (post-bronchodilator z-score FEV1/FVC

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Submitted by Dulce Barreto (mdulce.barreto@chlc.min-saude.pt) on 2018-08-28T10:13:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Acta Med Port 2018_31_231.pdf: 163543 bytes, checksum: 959449f06e09829b54fef3adb8305be5 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-28T10:13:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Acta Med Port 2018_31_231.pdf: 163543 bytes, checksum: 959449f06e09829b54fef3adb8305be5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-30 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

BACKGROUND: Large observational implementation studies are needed to triangulate the findings from randomized control trials (RCTs) as they reflect "real world" everyday practice. In a pilot study, we attempted to provide additional and complementary insights on the real life treatment of allergic rhinitis using mobile technology.METHODS: A mobile phone app (Allergy Diary, freely available Google Play and Apple App stores) collects the data of daily visual analogue scales (VAS) for (i) overall allergic symptoms, (ii) nasal, ocular and asthma symptoms, (iii) work, as well as (iv) medication use using a treatment scroll list including all medications (prescribed and over the counter (OTC)) for rhinitis customized for 15 countries.RESULTS: A total of 2,871 users filled in 17,091 days of VAS in 2015 and 2016. Medications were reported for 9,634 days. The assessment of days appeared to be more informative than the course of the treatment as, in real life, patients do not necessarily use treatment on a daily basis; rather, they appear to increase treatment use with the loss of symptom control. The Allergy Diary allowed differentiation between treatments within or between classes (intranasal corticosteroid use containing medications and oral H1-antihistamines). The control of days differed between no [best control], single or multiple treatments (worst control).CONCLUSIONS: The present study confirms the usefulness of the Allergy Diary in accessing and assessing everyday use and practice in allergic rhinitis. This pilot observational study uses a very simple assessment (VAS) on a mobile phone, shows novel findings and generates new hypotheses. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Introdução: Os esporos de fungos como o Cladosporium e a Alternaria presentes em ambientes outdoor são responsáveis pelo desencadeamento de reações alérgicas. Assim sendo, o estudo aeromicológico de uma zona geográfica é importante. Objetivos: Identificar e quantificar os tipos de esporos de fungos presentes na atmosfera de Lisboa e analisar a influência dos fatores meteorológicos nas suas concentrações, de modo a conhecer a sua variação sazonal. Metodologia: Analisaram-se os dados das monitorizações da estação de Lisboa da Rede Portuguesa de Aerobiologia (RPA) de esporos de fungos, de 1 de janeiro a 31 de dezembro de 2013. Usou-se um captador Burkard Seven Day Volumetric Spore-trap® e um sistema de leitura ao microscópio ótico com uma ampliação de 400x. A influência dos fatores meteorológicos sobre as concentrações dos esporos foi avaliada pela análise da correlação de Spearman. Resultados: Coletaram-se 657922 esporos de fungos com uma concentração média diária de 1803 esporos de fungos/m3. Os tipos de esporos de fungos mais abundantes foram: Cladosporium cladosporoide (53,6 %), Amanita (8,8 %), Ustilago (4,3 %), Leptosphaeria (4,2 %), Coprinus (4,0 %) Cladosporium herbarum (3,7 %), Mycospharella (3,4 %), Boletus (2,1 %), Aspergillus-Penicillium (1,8 %), Agaricus (1,4 %) e Alternaria (1,1 %). As concentrações mais elevadas de esporos de fungos registaram-se entre o final da primavera e o outono. Em outubro obteve-se o índice mais elevado, 172 507 de esporos de fungos/m3. A temperatura média apresenta uma correlação positiva com as concentrações de conídios, com os esporos totais e uma correlação negativa com os níveis de ascósporos. A humidade relativa e a precipitação apresentaram um efeito positivo com os ascósporos, mas negativo com os fungos anamórficos, mixomicetos e esporos totais. Os basidiósporos apresentaram correlação positiva apenas com a precipitação. A velocidade média do vento foi estatisticamente negativa com os fungos anamórficos e basidiósporos e com os esporos totais. Conclusões: O estudo permitiu caracterizar a distribuição intra-anual dos esporos fúngicos em Lisboa, facilitando o planeamento de estudos para avaliação de sensibilização alérgica e seu eventual impacto clínico. Introduction: Fungal spores present in outdoor environments are responsible for triggering of allergic reactions, and therefore it is important to characterize the aeromycological data in a region. Objectives: To identify and quantify the types of fungal spores present in Lisbon atmosphere and to analyze the influence of meteorological factors. Methodology: Monitoring data from the Lisbon station of the Portuguese Aerobiology Network of fungal spores from 1 January to 31 December 2013 were analyzed. A Burkard Seven Day Volumetric Spore-trap® collector and optical microscope reading system based on the analysis of a longitudinal line at the center of the slide with a magnification of 400x were used. The influence of the meteorological factors on the concentrations of fungal spores was evaluated through the Spearman correlation analysis. Results: A total of 657,922 fungal spores were collected at a mean daily concentration of 1,803 fungi / m3 spores. The most frequent types of fungi spores were Cladosporium cladosporoide (53.6%), Amanita (8.8%), Ustilago (4.3%), Leptosphaeria (4.2%) Coprinus (4.0%) Cladosporium herbarum (3.7%), Mycospharella (3.4%), Boletus (2.1%), Aspergillus-Penicillium (1.8%), Agaricus (1.4%) and Alternaria (1.1%). The highest concentrations of fungal spores occurred between late spring and autumn. October was the month with the highest fungal spore (172,507/m3) and with maximum daily (13,561 fungi/m3). Mean temperature presented a positive correlation with conidia concentrations with total spores and a negative correlation with ascospore levels. Relative humidity and precipitation had a positive effect with ascospores but negative with conidia, myxomycetes and total spores. Basidiospore showed a positive correlation with precipitation alone. The average wind speed had a negative effect on conidia, basidiospore and total spores. Conclusions: This study allowed to characterize the yearly distribution of fungal spores in Lisbon, as well as its relationship with the meteorological variables, allowing to plan studies for evaluation of allergic sensitization and its eventual clinical impact.

Background and objective Data on chronic respiratory diseases (CRD) are scarce or unavailable in most African countries. We aimed to determine the prevalence of CRD and associated risk factors in Cape Verde, at the primary healthcare level. Methods In the frame of the Global Alliance Against Chronic Respiratory Diseases, a cross-sectional study was carried out in October 2006 in 3256 outpatients (2142 women) (median age of 30 years) seeking care at primary healthcare departments, through a standardized interview questionnaire during two weeks. Results The prevalence of emphysema, tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis, rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma were 0.7%, 2%, 4.5%, 12.3% and 6.2%, respectively. Current smoking was associated with emphysema (OR: 3.36; 95% CI: 0.97–11.40) and tuberculosis (OR: 2.14; 95% CI: 1.07–4.30), ever exposed to a dusty workplace with chronic bronchitis (OR: 2.20; CI 95%: 1.50–3.21) and rhinoconjunctivitis (OR: 1.56; CI 95%: 1.23–1.98) and cooking or heating using an open fire with asthma (OR: 1.59; CI 95%: 1.16–2.19). The estimates of attributable risks percent indicated that, in the sample, a noticeable part of CRD could be attributed to active smoking, exposure to dust and biomass. Results varied according to gender, particularly regarding current smoking which was more important for men. Conclusions Tobacco smoking, exposure to dust at work and using an open fire were important risk factors for CRD. Our results suggest that if actions were taken in order to reduce the aforementioned exposures, an important CRD decrease could be achieved.

Submitted by Dulce Barreto (mdulce.barreto@chlc.min-saude.pt) on 2018-02-15T11:02:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol 2017_27_384.pdf: 1478062 bytes, checksum: db867a9c048413e5bfd6f5877d66f0b0 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-15T11:02:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol 2017_27_384.pdf: 1478062 bytes, checksum: db867a9c048413e5bfd6f5877d66f0b0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Submitted by Dulce Barreto (mdulce.barreto@chlc.min-saude.pt) on 2020-05-22T14:22:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Contact Dermatitis 2019_78_159.pdf: 124403 bytes, checksum: 414979d3e04ada2896c56020e82ab271 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2020-05-22T14:22:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Contact Dermatitis 2019_78_159.pdf: 124403 bytes, checksum: 414979d3e04ada2896c56020e82ab271 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Submitted by Dulce Barreto (mdulce.barreto@chlc.min-saude.pt) on 2018-10-22T11:30:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rev Port Imunoalergologia 2017_25_135.pdf: 341879 bytes, checksum: 7bf9e314ddcd202540b9bf0e22f54ee7 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-22T11:30:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rev Port Imunoalergologia 2017_25_135.pdf: 341879 bytes, checksum: 7bf9e314ddcd202540b9bf0e22f54ee7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Thermal comfort (TC) parameters were measured in 130 rooms from nursing homes (NH), following ISO 7730:2005 in order to evaluate the influence of winter season TC indices on quality of life (QoL) in older individuals. Mean radiant temperature (mrT), predicted mean vote (PMV) and predicted percent of dissatisfied people (PPD) indices, and the respective measurement uncertainties were calculated using Monte Carlo Method. The WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was conducted from September 2012 to April 2013, during the winter season TC sampling campaign. Winter PMV and PPD indices showed significant differences between seasons in median values for comfort. There were also significant differences between seasons for air temperature, air velocity, mrT, and relative humidity. The winter PMV index displayed a “slightly cool” [≤−1] to “cool” [≤−2] in thermal sensation scale [−3 to 3]. PPD index reflected this discomfort as evidenced by a high rate of predicted dissatisfied occupants (64%). The influence of winter season TC on older individual QoL results demonstrated that values of PMV above −0.7 had higher mean score of QoL (coefficient estimate: 11.13 units) compared with values of PMV below −0.7. These findings are of relevance to public health and may be useful for understanding NH indoor environment variables thus implementing preventive policies in terms of standards and guidelines for these susceptible populations. This work was supported by GERIA Project (www.geria.webnode.com): PTDC/SAU-SAP/116563/2010 and a PhD Grant (SFRH/BD/72399/2010) from Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT) through Operational Competitiveness Programme (COMPETE) as part of the National Strategic Reference Framework. SB work was supported by a grant funded by AIRC (Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro).

Introdução: A prevalência de alergia a fármacos na população geral não se encontra devidamente caraterizada, existindo poucos estudos publicados que tenham abordado esta situação em crianças com idades inferior a seis anos de idade. Este estudo tem como objetivo principal estimar a prevalência de alergia a medicamentos reportada pelos pais de crianças de infantários de Lisboa e do Porto.Material e Métodos: No âmbito da Fase II do projeto “ENVIRH – Ambiente e Saúde em Creches e Infantários” foi aplicado um questionário sobre alergia a medicamentos aos pais das crianças, recrutadas por amostragem aleatória estratificada dos infantários.Resultados: Foram analisados 1 169 questionários, 52,5% de rapazes. A idade média foi de 3,5 ± 1,5 anos. A prevalência de alergia a medicamentos reportada foi de 4,1% (IC 95%: 3,0 - 5,2%). Os fármacos mais referidos foram os antibióticos (em 27 reações) e os AINEs (em seis reações). Na análise multivariável, a alergia a medicamentos reportada associou-se diretamente com a idade da criança (OR 1,19; IC 95% 1,01 - 1,41) e com a referência a alergia alimentar (OR 3,19; IC95% 1,41 - 7,19) e inversamente com o nível de escolaridade dos pais (OR 0,25; IC95% 0,10 - 0,59).Discussão: Apesar das limitações do estudo, os resultados encontram-se de acordo com o reportado por outros autores e sugerem que a prevalência reportada de alergia a medicamentos seja elevada no grupo etário estudado.Conclusão: Torna-se necessário que situações de alergia a medicamentos reportadas pelos pais sejam devidamente estudadas, no sentido de evitar evicções desnecessárias que possam condicionar opções terapêuticas em futuras situações de doença.Palavras-chave: Creches; Criança; Hipersensibilidade a Medicamentos; Prevalência; Portugal.

O leite de vaca e o ovo são responsáveis pela maioria dos casos de alergia alimentar na infância. O processamento térmico dos alimentos pode alterar a sua alergenicidade e estão publicados vários estudos que investigaram a tolerância ao leite de vaca e ao ovo cozinhados em doentes com alergia ou com sensibilização aos mesmos. Da avaliação destes estudos verificou-se que os alimentos cozinhados são tolerados pela maioria da população incluída nos mesmos e que a sua ingestão é segura, podendo melhorar a qualidade de vida dos doentes. No entanto, a influência desta ingestão na história natural da alergia alimentar e na aquisição de tolerância ao alimento cru é discutível e necessita de mais estudos. Não foram encontrados marcadores clínicos ou imunológicos fiáveis que permitam a identificação dos doentes que toleram os alimentos cozinhados, pelo que a prova de provocação oral se mantém o único método fiável para avaliar essa tolerância Cow’s milk and egg are responsible for most cases of food allergy in children. Food thermal processing can change their allergenicity and several studies investigating baked cow’s milk and egg tolerance in patients with confirmed allergy or sensitization have been published. The evaluation of those studies showed that most patients included tolerated baked food and that the ingestion is safe and can improve the patient’s quality of life. Nevertheless, the influence of such ingestion in the natural history of food allergy and in the acquisition of tolerance to the raw food is debatable and needs further investigation. Clinical or immunological markers of tolerance to the baked food were not found, so the oral provocation test remains the only way to prove tolerance

Introduction There are rather few publications about hypersensitivity reactions to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) in the paediatric age. In this study, we aimed to assess the frequency of confirmed NSAID hypersensitivity in children with a previous reported reaction to NSAID in order to investigate the role of the drug provocation test (DPT) in the diagnostic workup and to explore the factors associated with confirmed NSAID hypersensitivity. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of the clinical files from every patient under 18 years old who attended two Portuguese paediatric allergy outpatient clinics, from January 2009 to August 2014, due to a suspected NSAID hypersensitivity. Results We included 119 patients, with a median age of nine years (P25–P75: 5–14). Ibuprofen was the commonest implicated NSAID in the patients’ reports (n = 94–79%). After DPT, NSAID hypersensitivity was confirmed in nine (7.6%) patients, excluded in 93 (78.2%) and was inconclusive in 17 (14.3%). In the majority (n = 95–79.8%), the reaction occurred in the first 24 h after intake. Eighty-four patients (70.6%) reported only cutaneous manifestations and 18 (15.1%) had systemic symptoms. Anaphylaxis represented a relative risk to NSAID hypersensitivity confirmation. No association was found for atopy and the number of previous reactions. Conclusion In our study, NSAID hypersensitivity was confirmed in a small proportion of the patients with a previous reported reaction. Ibuprofen was the most implicated drug with urticaria/angio-oedema as the commonest manifestation. Anaphylaxis was associated with confirmed drug hypersensitivity. The drug provocation test was essential to establish the diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Scarce information is available about the relationships between indoor air quality (IAQ) at day care centers (DCC), the estimated predisposition for asthma and the actual wheezing susceptibility. METHODS: In the Phase II of ENVIRH study, 19 DCC were recruited after cluster analysis. Children were evaluated firstly using the ISAAC questionnaire and later by a follow up questionnaire about recent wheezing. A positive asthma predictive index (API) was considered as predisposition for asthma. Every DCC was audited for IAQ and monitored for chemical and biological contaminants. RESULTS: We included 1,191 children, with a median age of 43 (P25 -P75 : 25-58) months. Considering the overall sample, in the first questionnaire, associations were found between CO2 concentration (increments of 200 ppm) and diagnosis of asthma (OR: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.00 - 1.20). Each increment of 100 μg.m-3 of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) and 1 μg of Der p1/g of dust were associated with wheezing in the previous 12 months (OR: 1.06; 95% CI: 1.01-1.11 and OR: 1.06; 95% CI: 0.99-1.12, respectively). In the follow-up questionnaire, TVOC were again associated with wheezing (OR: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.00-1.11). Children exposed to fungal concentration above the 75th percentile had also higher odds of wheezing at follow-up. TVOC were associated with wheezing in children with either negative or positive API. CONCLUSIONS: IAQ in DCC seems to be associated with wheezing, in children with and without predisposition for asthma. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. FCT

Few studies have assessed the quality of life (QOL) related to chronic respiratory diseases in the elderly. In the framework of the geriatric study on the health effects of air quality in elderly care centers (GERIA) study, a questionnaire was completed by elderly subjects from 53 selected nursing homes. It included various sections in order to assess respiratory complaints, QOL (World Health Organization QOL (WHOQOL)-BREF), and the cognitive and depression status. The outcome variables were the presence of a score lower than 50 (

Submitted by Dulce Barreto (mdulce.barreto@chlc.min-saude.pt) on 2017-11-23T12:57:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rev Port Imunoalergologia 2016_24_107.pdf: 115259 bytes, checksum: 22eac70b4c4e1d6973145519767e9f19 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-23T12:57:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rev Port Imunoalergologia 2016_24_107.pdf: 115259 bytes, checksum: 22eac70b4c4e1d6973145519767e9f19 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion