Bright I. Nwaru

University of Gothenburg | GU · Krefting Research Centre. Institute of Medicine

Background Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is used to differentiate asthma inflammatory phenotypes and guide its management. However, data on FeNO reference values in a representative adult population is limited. Objective To derive reference values and determinants of FeNO in a representative adult population. Methods The West Sweden Asthma...

Background The use of blood eosinophil count (BEC) as a prognostic biomarker in the management of conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be complicated by factors like atopy, age, sex, smoking, and comorbidities. Therefore, we aimed to produce reference values for BEC, considering age, asthma, COPD, and clini...

Background Trajectories of asthma and allergy in children are heterogeneous and commonly derived from parental report of disease or clinical records. This study combined parental‐reported and register‐based dispensed medication data to characterize childhood trajectories of co‐existing asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema. Methods From a Swedish...

Background Association of early pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and maternal gestational weight gain (GWG), and asthma and allergic disease in children is unclear. Methods We analyzed data from 3176 mother–child pairs in a prospective birth cohort study. Maternal anthropometric measurements in the first and last antenatal clinic visits were obtain...

Background Consumption of ultra‐processed foods [UPFs] may be associated with negative health outcomes. Limited data exist regarding the potential role of UPFs in the occurrence of allergic diseases. The underlying mechanisms underpinning any such associations are also poorly elucidated. Methods We performed a systematic review and narrative evide...

Introduction Development of asthma and allergies in childhood/adolescence commonly follows a sequential progression termed the ‘atopic march’. Recent reports indicate, however, that these diseases are composed of multiple distinct phenotypes, with possibly differential trajectories. We aim to synthesise the current literature in the field of machin...

Background Obesity, assessed by body mass index (BMI), is an established risk factor for 13 cancers. We aimed to identify further potential obesity-related cancers and to quantify their association with BMI relative to that of established obesity-related cancers. Methods Using Cox regression models on 4,142,349 individuals in Sweden (mean age 27.1...

Conclusion Education, but not occupation, was differentially associated with adult asthma phenotypes in the general population. Further research into socioeconomic status variation in various asthma phenotypes is warranted.

Purpose The Obesity and Disease Development Sweden (ODDS) study was designed to create a large cohort to study body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and changes in weight and WC, in relation to morbidity and mortality. Participants ODDS includes 4 295 859 individuals, 2 165 048 men and 2 130 811 women, in Swedish cohorts and national reg...

Background Rhinitis encompasses diverse forms. Each form has distinct pathophysiology and clinical manifestations and may be influenced by differential risk factors. The association between socioeconomic status (SES) and different forms of rhinitis remains poorly understood. Our aim was to examine SES variations in allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinit...

Background: Asthma is a heterogenous airway disease characterized by multiple phenotypes. Unbiased identification of these phenotypes is paramount for optimizing asthma management. Objectives: To identify and characterize asthma phenotypes based on a broad set of attributes using a novel machine learning approach in a representative sample of Swedi...

Background and Aim The relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), asthma and mortality is complex and multifaceted, and it is not established if educational level modifies the association between asthma and mortality. The aim was to study the association between asthma and mortality in Sweden and Norway and to what extent educational level mo...

Introduction In epidemiological studies, the age at asthma onset is often defined by patients’ self-reported age at diagnosis. The reliability of this report might be questioned. Our objective was to evaluate the agreement between self-reported and registered age at asthma diagnosis and assess features contributing to the agreement. Methods As par...

Background Chronic airway obstruction (CAO) and restrictive spirometry pattern (RSP) are associated with mortality, but sex-specific patterns of all-cause and specific causes of death have hardly been evaluated. Objectives To study the possible sex-dependent differences of all-cause mortality and patterns of cause-specific mortality among men and...

Background: The 2014 estimates of prevalence of food allergy (FA) in Europe published by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology included only the eight so-called big foods (cow's milk/egg/wheat/soy/peanut/tree nuts/fish/shellfish). Those estimates have recently been updated. Complementing this, we sought to identify and estimate t...

Background Respiratory symptoms are a common public health issue that can partly be attributed to preventable risk factors, such as tobacco smoking and occupational exposure, which are more common in individuals with lower socioeconomic status. Objective Our aim was to evaluate the social gradient in respiratory symptoms in Nordic countries. Meth...

Introduction Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is a rare disorder characterised by an impaired secretion of glucocorticoids from the adrenal glands. Treatment strategies for AI have developed over time with reduced glucocorticoid replacement doses and improved circadian exposure regimens, but whether this has resulted in better survival is unknown. The ma...

Objectives The aim was to systematically review the associations among white meat consumption, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods Databases MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Scopus were searched (15th October 2021) for randomized intervention trials (RCTs, ≥ 4 weeks of duration)...

In 2014, the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) published the first systematic review that summarized the prevalence of food allergy (FA) and food sensitization in Europe for studies published 2000–2012. However, only summary estimates for tree nut allergy (TNA) were feasible in that work. In the current update of that syst...

Introduction In epidemiological studies, the age at asthma onset is often defined by patients’ self-reported age at diagnosis. The reliability of this report might be questioned. Our objective was to evaluate the agreement between self-reported and registered age at asthma diagnosis and assess features contributing to the agreement. Methods As part...

Background Evidence on the role of exogenous female sex steroid hormones in asthma development in women remains conflicting. We sought to quantify the potential causal role of hormonal contraceptives and menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) in the development of asthma in women. Methods We conducted a matched case–control study based on the West Swede...

Background The use of molecular allergology has increasingly become common in the diagnosis and management of allergic diseases. However, there is still a lack of data on cat molecular allergens in adults. Therefore, we aimed to uncover the sensitization patterns to cat molecular allergens. Methods Participants were recruited from the West Asthma...

In 2014, the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology published prevalence estimates for food allergy (FA) and food sensitization (FS) to the so‐called eight big food allergens (i.e. cow's milk, egg, wheat, soy, peanut, tree nuts, fish and shellfish) in Europe for studies published between 2000 and 2012. The current work provides 10‐year...

Following the “hygiene hypothesis” and the increase in the prevalence of atopic diseases such as allergic rhinitis, a plethora of studies have investigated the role of sibship composition as a protective factor, but findings are conflicting. The aim of this study was to synthesize the global literature linking birth order and sibship size (number o...

Introduction: The prevalence of COPD tends to level off in populations with decreasing prevalence of smoking but the extent of underdiagnosis in such populations needs further investigation. Aim: To investigate underdiagnosis and misclassification of COPD with a focus on socio-economy, lifestyle determinants and healthcare utilization. Method:...

Introduction Treatment strategies for primary aldosteronism (PA) include unilateral adrenalectomy and medical treatment with mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonists. Whether these two different treatment strategies are comparable in mitigating the detrimental effect of PA on outcomes is still debated. Objectives The primary aim of this systema...

Objective: To systematically review the evidence for whether habitual or different levels of experimental intake of vitamin B12 from diet and supplements is sufficient to ensure adequate B12 status in groups most susceptible to vitamin B12 deficiency. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Scopus...

Histamine intolerance (HIT) is a common adverse reaction to food where elimination and reintroduction of histamine-rich food is part of the investigation. Analysis of the enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO) is sometimes used as an additional tool for diagnosis. This study aimed to describe the distribution of DAO in a large representative cohort of adults...

Background Atopic dermatitis and food allergy are two frequently concomitant manifestations of the presence of atopy. A substantial number of studies have been published on the association of birth order and sibship size (number of siblings) with atopic dermatitis, food allergy, and atopy. The present work is the first systematic synthesis of the e...

Objectives: This study aimed to systematically review the evidence for associations between consumption of legumes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes (T2D) and their risk factors among healthy adults. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Scopus up to 16 May 2022 for ≥4 weeks lon...

Janson Christer (Orcid ID: 0000-0001-5093-6980) Nwaru Bright I (Orcid ID: 0000-0002-2876-6089) 0Page 2 of 3 Prescribing patterns of budesonide/formote rol maintenance and reliever therapy in patients with asthma in Sweden Word count: 1010 To the Editor, Fixed-dose combination of an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), budesonide (BUD), and a rapid-onset,...

Background: Following the “hygiene hypothesis”, the role of sibship composition in asthma and wheezing has been extensively studied, but the findings are inconsistent. For the first time, this systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized evidences from studies investigating the association of sibship size and birth order with risk of asthma and...

Objectives: To systematically review the evidence on the effect of replacing the intake of animal protein with plant protein on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) and their intermediate risk factors. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Scopus up to 12th May 2022 for random...

Background: While dietary fiber intake is low in many children, the current trend to plant-based diets is associated with higher fiber intake in children raised on these diets. As older reports indicate that diets providing high fiber intake in children 0-5 years may affect growth, iron status and bowel function, we summarized the available eviden...

Background: Evidence abounds on the independent roles of social class and smoking in relation to obstructive airway diseases, but data are sparse on the impact of their interaction. We evaluated whether and to what extent social class and smoking interact in relation to risk of respiratory diseases in adults. Methods: Data from the population-ba...

Objectives: We aimed to systematically review studies and evaluate the strength of the evidence on nuts/seeds consumption and cardiometabolic diseases and their risk factors among adults. Methods: A protocol was pre-registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021270554). We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Scopus up...

Background: Due to the high transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2, accurate diagnosis is essential for effective infection control, but the gold standard, real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), is costly, slow, and test capacity has at times been insufficient. We compared the accuracy of clinician diagnosis of COVID-19 against...

Risk stratification of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients is important to enable targeted management. Existing disease severity classification systems, such as GOLD staging, do not take co-morbidities into account despite their high prevalence in COPD patients. We sought to develop and validate a prognostic model to predict 10-ye...

Background Evidence on the role of exogenous female sex steroid hormones in asthma development in women remains conflicting. We sought to quantify the potential causal role of hormonal contraceptives and menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) in the development of asthma in women. Methods We conducted a matched case-control study based on the West Sweden...

Following the “hygiene hypothesis”, a plethora of studies have investigated the role of sibship composition in atopic diseases, but findings are largely conflicting. We undertook the first systematic review to synthesize the global literature linking birth order and sibship size to the risk of allergic rhinitis. Fifteen databases were searched from...