Clinical and economic burden of pneumococcal disease among adults in Sweden: A population-based register study.

Pneumococcal disease is a major cause of clinical and economic burden worldwide. This study investigated the burden of pneumococcal disease in Swedish adults. A retrospective population-based study was conducted using Swedish national registers, including all adults aged ≥18 years with a diagnosis of pneumococcal disease (defined as pneumococcal pneumonia, meningitis, or septicemia) in inpatient or outpatient specialist care between 2015-2019. Incidence and 30-day case fatality rates, healthcare resource utilization, and costs were estimated. Results were stratified by age (18-64, 65-74, and ≥75 years) and the presence of medical risk factors. A total of 10,391 infections among 9,619 adults were identified. Medical factors associated with higher risk for pneumococcal disease were present in 53% of patients. These factors were associated with increased pneumococcal disease incidence in the youngest cohort. In the cohort aged 65-74 years, having a very high risk for pneumococcal disease was not associated with an increased incidence. Pneumococcal disease incidence was estimated at 12.3 (18-64), 52.1 (64-74), and 85.3 (≥75) per 100,000 population. The 30-day case fatality rate increased with age (18-64: 2.2%, 65-74: 5.4%, ≥75: 11.7%), and was highest among septicemia patients aged ≥75 (21.4%). The 30-day average number of hospitalizations was 1.13 (18-64), 1.24 (64-74) and 1.31 (≥75). The average 30-day cost/infection was estimated at €4,467 (18-64), €5,278 (65-74), and €5,898 (≥75). The 30-day total direct cost of pneumococcal disease between 2015-2019 was €54.2 million, with 95% of costs from hospitalizations. The clinical and economic burden of pneumococcal disease in adults was found to increase with age, with nearly all costs associated with pneumococcal disease from hospitalizations. The 30-day case fatality rate was highest in the oldest age group, though not negligible in the younger age groups. The findings of this study can inform the prioritization of pneumococcal disease prevention in adult and elderly populations.

Prevalence and management of severe asthma in the Nordic countries: findings from the NORDSTAR cohort.

Background: Real-life evidence on prevalence and management of severe asthma is limited. Nationwide population registries across the Nordic countries provide unique opportunities to describe prevalence and management patterns of severe asthma at population level. In nationwide register data from Sweden, Norway and Finland, we examined the prevalence of severe asthma and the proportion of severe asthma patients being managed in specialist care. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study based on the Nordic Dataset for Asthma Research (NORDSTAR) research collaboration platform. We identified patients with severe asthma in adults (aged ≥18 years) and in children (aged 6-17 years) in 2018 according to the European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society definition. Patients managed in specialist care were those with an asthma-related specialist outpatient contact (only available in Sweden and Finland). Results: Overall, we identified 598 242 patients with current asthma in Sweden, Norway and Finland in 2018. Among those, the prevalence of severe asthma was 3.5%, 5.4% and 5.2% in adults and 0.4%, 1.0%, and 0.3% in children in Sweden, Norway and Finland, respectively. In Sweden and Finland, 37% and 40% of adult patients with severe asthma and two or more exacerbations, respectively, were managed in specialist care; in children the numbers were 56% and 41%, respectively. Conclusion: In three Nordic countries, population-based nationwide data demonstrated similar prevalence of severe asthma. In children, severe asthma was a rare condition. Notably, a large proportion of patients with severe asthma were not managed by a respiratory specialist, suggesting the need for increased recognition of severe asthma in primary care.

Use of ALK-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (ALK TKI) in clinical practice, overall survival, and treatment duration - a Swedish nationwide retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: The real-world treatment and outcomes of patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase positive (ALK+) advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with ALK Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (TKI) drugs in Sweden is not well described. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective population-based cohort study was conducted using Swedish national registers. All patients with a filled prescription for an ALK TKI between January 2012 and October 2020 were included. The sequencing of ALK TKI and duration of treatment (DOT) were described, and overall survival (OS) was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Patients were stratified based on treatment with frontline chemotherapy, presence of CNS metastases prior to the first ALK TKI, and generation of ALK TKI agent. RESULTS: Among the total of 579 patients, 549 (95%) underwent a therapy sequence in line with current clinical practice with 204 (37%) patients receiving frontline chemotherapy. Single-line ALK TKI was given to 366 patients (crizotinib: 211; alectinib: 146; ceritinib: 9), whereas 128 patients received two different ALK TKI (frontline crizotinib: 100, alectinib: 24, ceritinib: 4); 40 patients received three lines and 15 patients four ALK TKI lines or more. With frontline chemotherapy, the mean (standard deviation) DOT was 1.07 (1.25) years for the entire TKI therapy sequence compared to 1.23 (1.28) years with frontline ALK TKI. The median (95% confidence interval) OS was 1.83 (1.48-2.13) years for the entire cohort, 1.44 (0.89-1.98) years for patients given frontline chemotherapy, and 2.02 (1.60-2.58) years for patients given frontline ALK TKI. CONCLUSION: This study provides a unique overview of the patient population treated with ALK TKI in Sweden and reveals the treatment patterns applied in real clinical practice. More research is needed when longer follow-up data are available for later-generation ALK TKI, to fully understand ALK TKI sequencing and its effect on patient survival in a real-world setting.

Recommendations and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) landscape evaluation for pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) in Europe: A systematic literature review.

National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) agencies evaluate the value of vaccines and provide decision-making authorities with recommendations. The availability of information on disease-burden evidence considered or required for the assessment of vaccines included in national immunization programs (NIPs) is limited. The aim of this review is to summarize the epidemiologic and health economic (HE) evidence considered by NITAGs/HTA agencies when evaluating pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) NIPs. A systematic literature review of national recommendation reports for PCV NIPs in children in 31 European countries, published since 2001, was performed using NITAG/HTA agency websites, Google, MEDLINE, and EMBASE. The presence of epidemiological data was mapped, HE data was extracted, and findings were summarized. A total of 46 records for 19 countries were identified. Fifteen countries' records included a recommendation concerning implementation of PCV NIP, switching from one PCV to another or a change in vaccination schedule within an existing NIP. All of these included epidemiological invasive pneumococcal disease data, and to varying degree epidemiological data on acute otitis media and pneumonia. HE data was referenced in 13 countries' records, with 8 countries providing in-depth details on cost-effectiveness analyses. Pediatric PCV NIP recommendations were published by 61% of European countries, with varying degree of details and decision rationale. Some countries only publish the HE aspect of their rationale. The identified material can provide insight and support local policymakers and clinicians how data influenced the decision-making process in their countries.

Health utility in preclinical and prodromal Alzheimer's disease for establishing the value of new disease-modifying treatments-EQ-5D data from the Swedish BioFINDER study.

Quality of life and health utility are important outcomes for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and central for demonstrating the value of new treatments. Estimates in biomarker-confirmed AD populations are missing, potentially delaying payer approval of treatment. We examined whether health utility, assessed with the EuroQoL-5 3-level version (EQ-5D-3L), differed between individuals with a positive or negative amyloid beta (Aß) biomarker in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and cognitively unimpaired (CU) participants from the Swedish BioFINDER study (n = 578). Participants with prodromal AD (Aß-positive MCI) reported better health utility (n = 79, mean = 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.77-0.85) than Aß-negative MCI (mean = 0.71, 95% CI 0.64-0.78), but worse than controls (Aß-negative CU, mean = 0.87, 95% CI 0.86-0.89). Health utility in preclinical AD (Aß-positive CU; mean = 0.86, 95% CI 0.83-0.89) was similar to controls. This relatively good health utility in prodromal AD suggests a larger value of delaying progression to dementia than previously anticipated and a great value of delaying clinical progression in preclinical AD.

Fine scale mapping of the 17q22 breast cancer locus using dense SNPs, genotyped within the Collaborative Oncological Gene-Environment Study (COGs).

Genome-wide association studies have found SNPs at 17q22 to be associated with breast cancer risk. To identify potential causal variants related to breast cancer risk, we performed a high resolution fine-mapping analysis that involved genotyping 517 SNPs using a custom Illumina iSelect array (iCOGS) followed by imputation of genotypes for 3,134 SNPs in more than 89,000 participants of European ancestry from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). We identified 28 highly correlated common variants, in a 53 Kb region spanning two introns of the STXBP4 gene, that are strong candidates for driving breast cancer risk (lead SNP rs2787486 (OR = 0.92; CI 0.90-0.94; P = 8.96 × 10(-15))) and are correlated with two previously reported risk-associated variants at this locus, SNPs rs6504950 (OR = 0.94, P = 2.04 × 10(-09), r(2) = 0.73 with lead SNP) and rs1156287 (OR = 0.93, P = 3.41 × 10(-11), r(2) = 0.83 with lead SNP). Analyses indicate only one causal SNP in the region and several enhancer elements targeting STXBP4 are located within the 53 kb association signal. Expression studies in breast tumor tissues found SNP rs2787486 to be associated with increased STXBP4 expression, suggesting this may be a target gene of this locus.