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The impact of disease duration in persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) on the quality of life, dizziness handicap and mental health

Sui Lin CT, Prepageran N

J Vestib Res, 2021 Dec 17.
PMID: 34924408 DOI: 10.3233/VES-210087

BACKGROUND: Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD) is a chronic functional disorder which interferes with the way individuals experience their personal, social and work life.
OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of disease duration in PPPD on the quality of life (QOL), dizziness handicap and mental health on the patients.
METHODS: A prospective study comparing the EQ-5D for QOL, Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) and DASS-21 between 27 patients with PPPD and 27 of those who have recovered from an acute vestibular event. Similar parameters between PPPD patients with symptoms less than one year and more than a year were compared.
RESULTS: The PPPD patients were predominantly females and middle-aged with significantly higher DHI scores (mean 48.3 + 25.7, p = 0.00002), higher total mean scores in the DASS-21 (mean 21.6 + 13.7, p = 0.009) and poorer QOL with mean EQ-5D VAS of 67.9 + 17.3 (p < 0.00001). PPPD patients with symptoms for more than a year had significant increase in physical handicap (p = 0.041) as well as anxiety levels (p = 0.008).
CONCLUSIONS: PPPD is predominantly seen in females and middle-aged which significantly reduces the QOL, increases dizziness handicap and increases depression, anxiety and stress levels. The increase in duration of illness further increases the anxiety levels and physical handicap.
The impact of pulmonary tuberculosis treatment on the prevalence of allergic rhinitis

Lin CT, Gopala K, Manuel AM

Ear Nose Throat J, 2013 Aug;92(8):358-99.
PMID: 23975489

Atopy is a syndrome characterized by immediate hypersensitivity reactions to common environmental antigens. The "hygiene hypothesis" stipulates that childhood infections are associated with a lower risk of allergies. Not much has been published about the effects that the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) has on allergies, specifically allergic rhinitis. We conducted a study to investigate the prevalence of allergic rhinitis in patients with pulmonary TB before and after treatment of their TB. Our initial study group was made up of 121 patients with confirmed pulmonary TB who were followed up by questionnaire. In addition to demographic data, they provided information about their personal and family history of atopy and their current status with regard to allergic rhinitis. After providing informed consent, all patients underwent skin-prick testing with Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farinae, and Blomia tropicalis allergens before and after TB treatment. Stool samples were obtained to identify patients with worm infestation, and they were excluded from the study. In all, 94 patients completed treatment and follow-up, and their data were included in the final analysis. Of this group, 31 patients (33.0%) exhibited symptoms of allergic rhinitis prior to TB treatment, and 26 (27.7%) had a positive skin-prick test. Following treatment, only 12 patients (12.8%) reported allergic rhinitis symptoms (p = 0.004), but there was no significant reduction in the number of patients with a positive skin-prick test (n = 20 [21.3%]; p = 0.555). We conclude that the treatment of pulmonary TB results in significant relief of atopy, particularly allergic rhinitis symptoms.
Acute calcific tendinitis of gluteus maximus tendon due to tumoral calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate deposition disease

Lim CH, Lin CT, Chen YH

Int J Rheum Dis, 2017 Dec;20(12):2249-2252.
PMID: 28036155 DOI: 10.1111/1756-185X.12969
Fulltext The clinical application of tumor markers in the screening of malignancies and interstitial lung disease of dermatomyositis/polymyositis patients: A retrospective study

Lim CH, Tseng CW, Lin CT, Huang WN, Chen YH, Chen YM, et al.

SAGE Open Med, 2018;6:2050312118781895.
PMID: 29977547 DOI: 10.1177/2050312118781895

Objective: To examine the clinical utility of tumor markers in dermatomyositis/polymyositis patients in Taiwan.

Method: Data were collected retrospectively from the database of Taichung Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan from 1998 to 2014. Patients who fulfilled Bohan and Peter criteria of dermatomyositis/polymyositis were recruited. Serum level of tumor markers including carcinoembryonic antigen, alpha-fetoprotein, carbohydrate antigen 125, carbohydrate antigen 19-9 and carbohydrate antigen 15-3 were measured. The occurrence of malignancies and interstitial lung disease was identified. The association of tumor markers with malignancies and interstitial lung disease was examined using Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test.

Results: Among the enrolled 151 patients, 98 (64.9%) dermatomyositis and 53 (35.1%) polymyositis, a total of 15 malignancies were detected: breast ductal carcinoma (n = 4), bladder transitional cell carcinoma (n = 2), lung adenocarcinoma (n = 2), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 and papillary squamous cell carcinoma (n = 2), colorectal (colon and rectal adenocarcinoma) (n = 2), uterine adenocarcinoma (n = 1), nasopharyngeal carcinoma (n = 1) and hematological malignancy (myelodysplastic with excess blast cells) (n = 1). Among the patients with malignancies, 13 (86.7%) had dermatomyositis, 2 (13.3%) polymyositis and 3 (20%) interstitial lung disease. The mean duration from dermatomyositis/polymyositis diagnosis to the occurrence of malignancies was 6.05 ± 5.69 years. There was no significant association of raised tumor markers with the occurrence of malignancies (p > 0.085), while a significant association was observed between the elevated levels of carbohydrate antigen 15-3 and the presence of interstitial lung disease (p = 0.006).

Conclusion: Tumor markers were not useful in malignancy screening or dermatomyositis/polymyositis patients in this tertiary center. The evaluation of the occurrence of malignancy in dermatomyositis/polymyositis patient should include a multidimensional approach. A raised level of carbohydrate antigen 15-3 may be a potential indicator of the presence of interstitial lung disease in dermatomyositis/polymyositis patients.
Degraded microarchitecture by low trabecular bone score is associated with prevalent vertebral fractures in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Lai EL, Huang WN, Chen HH, Chen JP, Chen DY, Hsieh TY, et al.

Arch Osteoporos, 2020 03 27;15(1):54.
PMID: 32221755 DOI: 10.1007/s11657-020-00726-3

PURPOSE: Recently, trabecular bone score (TBS) has emerged as an important supplementary assessment tool in osteoporosis diagnosis and management. The high incidence of fragility fracture within the non-osteoporotic range of bone mineral density (BMD), among systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, highlights the crucial role of bone microarchitecture in osteoporosis. This study aimed to evaluate whether TBS identified existing vertebral fractures (VF) more accurately than BMD in SLE patients.
METHODS: This study enrolled 147 SLE patients from the Asia Pacific Lupus Collaboration (APLC) cohort, who had BMD and TBS assessed from January 2018 until December 2018. Twenty-eight patients sustaining VF and risk factors associated with increased fracture occurrence were evaluated. Independent risk factors and diagnostic accuracy of VF were analyzed by logistic regression and ROC curve, respectively.
RESULT: The prevalence of vertebral fracture among SLE patients was 19%. BMD, T-score, TBS, and TBS T-score were significantly lower in the vertebral fracture group. TBS exhibited higher positive predictive value and negative predictive value than L spine and left femur BMD for vertebral fractures. Moreover, TBS had a higher diagnostic accuracy than densitometric measurements (area under curve, 0.811 vs. 0.737 and 0.605).
CONCLUSION: Degraded microarchitecture by TBS was associated with prevalent vertebral fractures in SLE patients. Our result suggests that TBS can be a complementary tool for assessing vertebral fracture prevalence in this population.
Ten-year fracture risk by FRAX and osteoporotic fractures in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases

Lai EL, Huang WN, Chen HH, Hsu CY, Chen DY, Hsieh TY, et al.

Lupus, 2019 Jul;28(8):945-953.
PMID: 31177913 DOI: 10.1177/0961203319855122

The Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) has been used universally for the purpose of fracture risk assessment. However, the predictive capacity of FRAX for autoimmune diseases remains inconclusive. This study aimed to compare the applicability of FRAX for autoimmune disease patients. This retrospective study recruited rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS) patients with bone mineral density (BMD) tests. Patients with any osteoporotic fractures were identified. Taiwan-specific FRAX with and without BMD were then calculated. In total, 802 patients (451 RA, 233 SLE and 118 pSS) were enrolled in this study. The cumulative incidences of osteoporotic fractures in the RA, SLE and pSS patients were 43.0%, 29.2% and 33.1%, respectively. For those with a previous osteoporotic fracture, T-scores were classified as low bone mass. Overall, the patients' 10-year probability of major fracture risk by FRAX without BMD was 15.8%, which then increased to 20.3% after incorporation of BMD measurement. When analyzed by disease group, the fracture risk in RA patients was accurately predicted by FRAX. In contrast, current FRAX, either with or without BMD measurement, underestimated the fracture risk both in SLE and pSS patients, even after stratification by age and glucocorticoid treatment. For pSS patients with major osteoporotic fractures, FRAX risks imputed by RA were comparable to major osteoporotic fracture risks of RA patients. Current FRAX accurately predicted fracture probability in RA patients, but not in SLE and pSS patients. RA-imputed FRAX risk scores could be used as a temporary substitute for SLE and pSS patients.
Fulltext The risk of tuberculosis disease in rheumatoid arthritis patients on biologics and targeted therapy: A 15-year real world experience in Taiwan

Lim CH, Chen HH, Chen YH, Chen DY, Huang WN, Tsai JJ, et al.

PLoS One, 2017;12(6):e0178035.
PMID: 28570568 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178035

The objective of this study is to determine the risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease in biologics users among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in Taiwan from 2000 to 2015. This retrospective cohort study enrolled adult RA patients initiated on first biologics at Taichung Veterans General Hospital. TB risks were determined as hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) using cox regression. A total of 951 patients were recruited; etanercept (n = 443), adalimumab (n = 332), abatacept (n = 74), golimumab (n = 60), tocilizumab (n = 31) and tofacitinib (n = 11). Twenty-four TB cases were identified; 13 in etanercept and 11 in adalimumab group with the TB incidence rate of 889.3/ 100,000 and 1055.6/ 100,000 patient-years respectively. There was no significant difference in TB risk between adalimumab and etanercept users with an incidence rate ratio of 1.27 (p = 0.556 by Poisson model). Significant 2-year TB risk factors included elderly patient >65 year-old (HR: 2.72, 95% CI: 1.06-6.99, p = 0.037), history of TB (HR: 6.24, 95% CI: 1.77-22.00, p = 0.004) and daily glucocorticoid use ≥5mg (HR:5.01, 95% CI: 1.46-17.21, p = 0.010). Sulfasalazine treatment appeared to be protective (HR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.11-0.97, p = 0.043). Risk management plan (RMP) for TB before initiation of biologics commenced in 2012. The 2-year TB risks after RMP was compared with that before 2012 (HR:0.67, 95% CI: 0.30-1.49, p = 0.323). Elderly RA patients with a history of previous TB infection and concomitant moderate dose glucocorticoid were at higher risk of TB disease. Concurrent sulfasalazine treatment appeared to be a protective factor against TB disease.
Fulltext The benefits of contributing to the citizen science platform iNaturalist as an identifier

Callaghan CT, Mesaglio T, Ascher JS, Brooks TM, Cabras AA, Chandler M, et al.

PLoS Biol, 2022 Nov;20(11):e3001843.
PMID: 36355752 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001843

As the number of observations submitted to the citizen science platform iNaturalist continues to grow, it is increasingly important that these observations can be identified to the finest taxonomic level, maximizing their value for biodiversity research. Here, we explore the benefits of acting as an identifier on iNaturalist.