Category: Our News

REG is pleased to announce the resumption of in-person Working Group meetings taking place at ERS this year. Meetings are open to everyone (collaborators and supporters) so please come along to those of particular interest to find out about REG and its research projects and re-connect with many of your colleagues. Online participation to the meetings will also be possible.

Saturday 3rd September

09:00 – 10:00        Allergy Working Group
10:00 – 11:00          ILD/IPF Working Group
11:00 – 12:00          Environment, Epidemiology and Airways WG
12:00 – 13:00          COPD Working Group
13:00 – 14:00          Biomarkers & Severe Asthma Working Group
14:00 – 15:00          Technologies Working Group
15:00 – 16:00          Database and Coding Working Group
16:00 – 17:00          Adherence Working Group
17:00 – 18:00          Cost Effectiveness Working Group
18:00 – 19:00          Child Health Working Group

All meetings will be held at:
Hotel SB Plaza Europa,  Carrer de les Ciències, 11, 13, 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona
(The hotel is located close to the ERS Congress venue, FIRA Barcelona Gran Via congress centre, Hall 8 which is a 5 minute walk away)

Hotel Location and access
By metro:
Line L9 sud. Metro stop: Fira
Just 900 meters from the hotel (10 minute walk)

Line L10 sud. Metro stop: Ciutat de la Justícia
900 meters from the hotel

Line 10 sud. Metro stop: Foneria
700 meters from the hotel (8 minute walk)

By train
Station: Ildefons Cerdà
Just 350 meters from the hotel (5 minutes walk)

Catch up with the latest REG news and happenings in our February 2022 Newsletter

 

 

REG is happy to announce the Scientific Programme of REG Summit 2022

The programme of the Summit includes a variety of interactive and informative sessions.

17 - 19 March 2022.

More information is available on the REG Summit website www.regsummit2022.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

Towards Optimum Reporting of Pulmonary Effectiveness Databases and Outcomes (TORPEDO): identifying a core dataset for asthma and COPD studies

TORPEDO (Towards Optimum Reporting of Pulmonary Effectiveness Databases and Outcomes) was a collaborative project between the Global Alliance for Chronic Disease (GACD) and the Respiratory Effectiveness Group (REG). The study used a modified Delphi design to develop checklists of the optimum and minimum required variables for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) research studies.

Initially a panel of 22 REG experts generated a list of 224 variables they considered optimum for respiratory studies. In phase 2 a panel of 64 participants from across the GACD and REG networks completed an online survey to select the minimum variables that they felt were required for any respiratory study. In the final phase 34 members of the panel completed voting to select a set of minimum variables required for specific study designs.

The panel reached a consensus on 13 variables for retrospective asthma studies and 34 for prospective asthma studies. For COPD studies, 16 variables were selected for retrospective studies and 37 for prospective studies. Gender, exacerbations and patient-reported outcomes were the only variables with 100% agreement for both asthma and COPD studies.

The proposed list of minimally required variables generated by this research will aid the assessment of current data sources for their utility in asthma and COPD studies and standardization of data collection. This will improve research efficiency, replicability and transparency and facilitate the sharing, merging and comparison of datasets.

https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.14.21264843

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catch up with the latest REG news and happenings in our  October 2021 Newsletter

 

 

REG is pleased to announce that the next REG Summit will be held from

17 - 19 March 2022.

More information will be made available in the coming months on the REG Summit website www.regsummit2022.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catch up now with the Sessions with Video On Demand!

All sessions have been recorded and are available to view  - click on the link and follow the instructions to access the videos.
https://lnkd.in/dPazDwx

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood asthma outcomes during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Findings from the PeARL multinational cohort

Members of the Paediatric Asthma in Real Life (PeARL) think tank initiative have recently published a paper showing a positive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on childhood asthma.

The study included 1,054 children with asthma and 505 non-asthmatic control subjects, from 25 paediatric departments across 15 countries. During the pandemic children with asthma had no increase in risk of episodes of pyrexia, lower respiratory tract infections, emergency department visits or hospitalisations for any reason, compared to those children without asthma.

Furthermore, in comparison to the previous year children with asthma had fewer upper respiratory tract infections, episodes of pyrexia, emergency visits and hospital admissions for any reason, asthma attacks and hospitalisation due to asthma. Two thirds of the children had improved asthma control, with 33.2% having an improvement that exceeded the minimally clinically important difference. Lung function measures were also improved during the pandemic.

It is predicted that the improvements seen are the result of social distancing, home sheltering and reduced school attendance, which have reduced exposure to asthma triggers (e.g., outdoor allergens, viral infections, physical exercise and air pollution). Increased medication adherence may have also played a role; indeed, self-reports of adherence were increased in the study population during the pandemic.

These data do not support the hypothesis that childhood asthma is a risk factor for COVID-19. Importantly, they highlight the potential to improve childhood asthma outcomes through environmental control, e.g., wearing of masks.

https://doi.org/10.1111/all.14787

 

 

 

 

Catch up with the latest REG news and happenings in our  March 2021 Newsletter

 

A real-life comparative effectiveness study into the addition of antibiotics to the management of asthma exacerbations in primary care

A comparative effectiveness study utilising historic electronic medical records from the Optimum Patient Care Research Database (opcrd.co.uk) was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the addition of antibiotics alongside oral corticosteroids for treating asthma exacerbations. The results of this study by the REG Child Health Working Group have been published in the European Respiratory Journal.

The study highlights a high level of antibiotic prescribing in relation to asthma exacerbations, despite this being contrary to guideline recommendations.

Previous randomised controlled trial data has suggested a potentially beneficial effect of antibiotics, in particular macrolides, in asthma exacerbations treated in secondary care. In the large heterogeneous primary care population in this study the use of antibiotics alongside oral corticosteroids for treating asthma exacerbations was associated with a small reduced risk of having a further respiratory consultation in the following two weeks, compared to oral corticosteroids alone. This small effect was seen in those prescribed penicillins, but not in those prescribed macrolides.

Given the small magnitude of the effect and considering the risk of side effects, the cost and most importantly risk of antibiotic resistance associated with the addition of antibiotics it was concluded that the routine addition of antibiotics to oral corticosteroids for the management of asthma exacerbations appears to confer little clinical benefit.

https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2020/12/10/13993003.03599-2020