Jean Bousquet

• MD, PhD
• Professor Emeritus at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montpellier

Background: The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines classify rhinitis as "intermittent" or "persistent" and "mild" or "moderate-severe". Objectives: To assess ARIA classes in a real-world study in terms of phenotypic differences and their association with asthma. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional real-world study base...

Biomarkers for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of patients with rhinitis and/or asthma are urgently needed. Although some biologic biomarkers exist in specialist care for asthma, they cannot be largely used in primary care. There are no validated biomarkers in rhinitis or allergen immunotherapy (AIT) that can be used in clinical practice. Th...

Background: GA2 LEN-ADCARE is a branch of the largest multidisciplinary network of research centres and clinical care in allergy and asthma, GA2 LEN, focussing on the field of atopic dermatitis (AD). AD is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with high burden and many comorbidities requiring different levels of treatment. The need for aligned infor...

Contact with natural environments enriches the human microbiome, promotes immune balance and protects against allergies and inflammatory disorders. In Finland, the allergy & asthma epidemic became slowly visible in mid 1960s. After the World War II, Karelia was split into Finnish and Soviet Union (now Russia) territories. This led to more marked en...

Aim: The efficacy and safety of allergen immunotherapy (AIT) in allergic rhinitis has been classically assessed using randomized controlled trials (RCTs). However, RCTs may have limitations in their external validity, and their evidence may be complemented with that from real-world studies. We aimed to review the mHealth apps that can be used for...

Background: Validated questionnaires are used to assess asthma control over the past 1-4 weeks from reporting. However, they do not adequately capture asthma control in patients with fluctuating symptoms. Using the Mobile Airways Sentinel Network for airway diseases (MASK-air) app, we developed and validated an electronic daily asthma control scor...

Most previous studies assessing multimorbidity in asthma assessed the frequency of individual comorbid diseases. We aimed to assess the frequency and clinical and economic impact of co-occurring groups of comorbidities (comorbidity patterns using the Charlson Comorbidity Index) on asthma hospitalizations. We assessed the dataset containing a regist...

Background: Understanding differences in sensitization profiles at the molecular allergen level is important for diagnosis, personalised treatment and prevention strategies in allergy. Methods: IgE sensitization profiles were determined in more than 2800 sera from children in 9 population-based cohorts in different geographical regions of Europe...

Objective: To highlight how using the GRADE approach to understand the certainty in the evidence about the impact of climate change in health outcomes increases transparency. Also, how GRADE can enhance communication and decisions about adaptation and mitigation strategies. Study design: We developed a narrative review based on an assessment of...

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...

Demographic changes and population aging have been recognized as key priorities to ensure global health and social care systems sustainability. The increase in life expectancy of individuals is a very positive achievement of modern societies, but people’s health in the last decades of life is highly at risk due to the burden of chronic diseases and...

Digital health includes eHealth and areas such as the use of advanced computer sciences. eHealth comprises several components, including electronic health records, telehealth, and mHealth. mHealth is segmented into mHealth apps, mHealth services, and medical devices. The present paper is not intended to provide a systematic review of the current di...

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are a set of tools that allow clinicians to obtain information about the health status of their patients and help understand the impact of disease, treatment outcomes, patient satisfaction and awareness of the disease. However, patient-centered care may differ from private versus the public sphere in many c...

Background: In clinical and epidemiological studies, cut-offs of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) can be used to classify patients into groups of statistical and clinical relevance. However, visual analog scale (VAS) cut-offs in MASK-air® have not been tested. Objective: To calculate cut-offs for VAS global, nasal, ocular, and asthma sy...

Many studies exploring the factors associated with asthma-specific quality of life (QOL) have shown that asthma control is the main predictor of asthma-related QOL. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has ever explored the individual impact of the five main symptoms of asthma (wheezing, dyspnea, chest tightness, cough and airway secreti...

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....

Digital health is an umbrella term which encompasses eHealth and benefits from areas such as advanced computer sciences. eHealth includes mHealth apps, which offer the potential to redesign aspects of healthcare delivery. The capacity of apps to collect large amounts of longitudinal, real‐time, real‐world data enables the progression of biomedical...

This Research Topic focuses on both strengths and weaknesses of social innovation, technological innovation, and health innovation that are increasingly recognized as crucial concepts related to the formulation of responses to the social, health, and environmental challenges. Goals of this Research Topic: (1) to identify and share the best recent p...

Introduction Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are useful tools for monitoring chronic urticaria (CU) and atopic dermatitis (AD), but at the same time their use present different challenges, so the present study aims to identify the main barriers perceived by allergists treating AD and UC regarding the use of PROMs. Methods A cross-section...

Background The self-reporting of asthma frequently leads to patient misidentification in epidemiological studies. Strategies combining the triangulation of data sources may help to improve the identification of people with asthma. We aimed to combine information from the self-reporting of asthma, medication use and symptoms to identify asthma patte...

Background Scarce epidemiological studies have characterised allergic rhinitis (AR) and non-allergic rhinitis (NAR) in adults. Aims In a population-based cohort, to (1) describe rhinitis, AR and NAR, and (2) explore how asthma and conjunctivitis may lead to the identification of novel rhinitis phenotypes. Methods In this cross-sectional analysis,...

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) management requires a coordinated effort from healthcare providers and patients. Pharmacists are key members of these integrated care pathways resolving medication-related problems, optimizing regimens, improving adherence and recommending therapies while establishing liaisons between patients and physicians. Me...

Background Present guidelines recommend a life-long therapy with mepolizumab in patients suffering from severe eosinophilic asthma as several studies proved the disadvantages of treatment cessation. This study evaluated the possibility of extending the dosage intervals of mepolizumab in those patients with severe eosinophilic asthma after being wel...

MASK-air®, a good practice of the DG Santé, has been fully validated in allergic rhinitis, but little is known about its applicability to asthmatics. We explored whether the MASK-air® application is applicable to patients with severe asthma. Severe asthmatics were proposed to use the MASK-air® application for 6 months, along with best practice trea...

The Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test (CARAT) is a patient‐reported outcome measurement (PROM) assessing the control of asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) at a 4 week interval. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the measurement properties of CARAT. Following PRISMA and COSMIN guidelines, we searched five bibliographic databases and...

Background: MASK-air® is an app whose aim is to reduce the global burden of allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma. A transfer of innovative practices was performed to disseminate and implement MASK-air® in European regions. The aim of the study was to examine the implementation of the MASK-air® app in Lithuanian adults in order to investigate (i) the...

Purpose of review: Anaphylaxis is common in old-age adults but is insufficiently understood by physicians, and may be underdiagnosed. This review discusses the specificities of anaphylaxis in this age group and stresses the importance of adrenaline in its management. Recent findings: Data from the European Anaphylaxis Registry on elderly patient...

Introduction: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a disease characterized by IgE-mediated hypersensitivity responses akin to allergic asthma. Although common in children and young adults, AR can be particularly vexing in the elderly: several studies have underlined its impact on the patient's self-perceived health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). Available...

Chronic rhinitis encompassing both allergic and non-allergic rhinitis affects a significant portion of the population worldwide, having a great impact on patient quality of life, and associated co-morbid conditions, with an important societal economic burden. Allergists are often the first to evaluate and treat allergic and non-allergic rhinitis, a...

We explored antibody response after first and second BNT162b2 vaccinations, to predict the need for subsequent injections in nursing home (NH) residents. 369 NH residents were tested for IgG against SARS-CoV-2 Receptor-Binding Domain (RBD-IgG) and nucleoprotein-IgG (SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant and SARS-CoV-2 IgG Alinity assays, Abbott Diagnostics). In...

We report a case of severe uncontrolled allergic and eosinophilic asthma in which omalizumab had led to a fast remission. After 18 months, mepolizumab was added to omalizumab because of increased blood eosinophils and a deterioration of asthma control. Asthma was then under control for the next 18 months. Discontinuation of mepolizumab in the ensui...

Drug repurposing is one of the major fields of Value-Added Medicines. It involves the investigation and evaluation of existing drugs for new therapeutic purposes that address unmet healthcare needs. There are several unmet needs in allergic rhinitis that could be improved by drug repurposing. This could be game-changing for disease management. The...

Background Several studies have suggested an impact of allergic rhinitis on academic productivity. However, large studies with real-world data (RWD) are not available. Objective To use RWD to assess the impact of allergic rhinitis on academic performance (measured through a visual analog scale – VAS education – and the WPAI+CIQ:AS questionnaire),...

Rationale: The identification of novel molecules associated with asthma may provide insights into mechanisms of disease and their potential clinical implications. Objectives: To conduct a screening of circulating proteins in childhood asthma and to study proteins emerged from human studies in a mouse model of asthma. Methods: We included 2,264...

Real-world data represent an increasingly important source of knowledge in health care. However, assessing their representativeness can be challenging. We compared (i) real-world data from a mobile app for allergic rhinitis (MASK-air®) on the usage of oral H1-antihistamines from 2016 to 2020 in 10 European countries with (ii) Google Trends data on...

Antti Lauerma 76 | Susanne Lau 77 | Daniel Laune 78 | Michael Levin 79 | Desiree E Larenas-Linnemann 80 | Karin C Lodrup Carlsen 81,191 | Carlo Lombardi 82 | Olga M Lourenço 83 | Bassam Mahboub 84 | Hans-Jørgen Malling 85 | Patrick Manning 86 | Gailen D Marshall 87 | Erik Melén 88,188 | Eli O Meltzer 89 | Neven Miculinic 90 | Branislava Milenkovic...

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 scal...

Athletes are more prone to asthma compared with the general population, and in many athletes, elite training is suspected as being the cause. Asthma in athletes consists of at least two different clinical endotypes: early onset and late onset, possibly with exercise-induced asthma. Our aim in this study was to characterize asthma as Type 2 or nonTy...

Olfactory dysfunction is common in COVID-19, and sudden-onset dysosmia is an early marker for wild-type SARS-CoV-2 infection. Over 10,000 mutations of SARS-CoV-2 have been registered, with variants of concern (VOC) under particular scrutiny. We report a telemedicine-based, multicentre, prospective cohort study with quantitative olfaction testing co...

Background Chronic cough management necessitates a clear integrated care pathway approach. Primary care physicians initially encounter the majority of chronic cough patients, yet their role in proper management can prove challenging due to limited access to advanced diagnostic testing. A multidisciplinary approach involving otolaryngologists and ch...

Background: Many foods have an antioxidant activity, and nutrition may mitigate COVID-19. Some countries with a low COVID-19 mortality have a relatively high consumption of cabbage or fermented foods. To test the potential role of fermented foods and cabbage in COVID-19 mortality in Europe, we performed an ecological study. Methods: The EFSA Compre...

The article describes some of the achievements of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA), after eight years in operation. These results were achieved thanks to the collaborative work of the action groups (AGs) and reference sites (RSs). RS regional ecosystems include key organisations committed to investing in...

Background Evidence regarding the effectiveness of allergen immunotherapy (AIT) on allergic rhinitis has been provided mostly by randomised controlled trials, with little data from real‐life studies. Objective To compare the reported control of allergic rhinitis symptoms in three groups of users of the MASK‐air® app: those receiving sublingual AIT...

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...

Vaccination is a highly effective preventive measure against COVID‐19. However, complementary treatments are needed to better control the disease. Fermented vegetables and spices, agonists of the antioxidant transcription factor nuclear factor (erythroid‐derived 2)‐like 2 (Nrf2) and TRPA1/V1 channels (Transient Receptor Potential Ankyrin 1 and Vani...

Introduction: Although rhinitis is among the most common diseases worldwide, rhinitis prevalence in the general adult population is unclear and definitions differ widely. Objective: To summarize the literature on rhinitis prevalence in the general adult population and to assess: (1) the prevalence according to different rhinitis definitions over...

Background: Only a small number of apps addressing allergic rhinitis patients have been evaluated. This makes their selection difficult. We aimed to introduce a new approach to market research for allergic rhinitis apps, based on the automatic screening of Apple App and Google Play stores. Methods: A JavaScript programme was devised for automati...

Background Validated combined symptom‐medication scores (CSMSs) are needed to investigate the effects of allergic rhinitis treatments. This study aimed to use real‐life data from the MASK‐air® app to generate and validate hypothesis‐ and data‐driven CSMSs. Methods We used MASK‐air® data to assess the concurrent validity, test‐retest reliability an...

Background Appropriate use of effective treatments is required for satisfactory control of allergic symptoms. Coherent medical care -regular prescribing by the same Health Care Professionals- is a preliminary need. Objective We investigated the numbers of distinct prescribers, the regularity of medical visits, and the agreement between prescriptio...

Abstract: Background Cough features a complex peripheral and central neuronal network. The function of the chemosensitive and stretch (afferent) cough receptors is well described but partly understood. It is speculated that chronic cough reflects a neurogenic inflammation of the cough reflex, which becomes hypersensitive. This is mediated by neurom...

Background Rhinitis is one of the most common disease worldwide with a high and increasing prevalence. There is limited knowledge on the link between long-term exposure to air pollution and rhinitis. Objectives We aim to study the associations between long-term exposure to air pollutants and self-reported current rhinitis among adults from Constan...

Background Cough features a complex peripheral and central neuronal network. The function of the chemosensitive and stretch (afferent) cough receptors is well described but partly understood. It is speculated that chronic cough reflects a neurogenic inflammation of the cough reflex, which becomes hypersensitive. This is mediated by neuromediators,...

Background Food anaphylaxis is commonly elicited by unintentional ingestion of foods containing the allergen above the tolerance threshold level of the individual. While labeling the 14 main allergens used as ingredients in food products is mandatory in the EU, there is no legal definition of declaring potential contaminants. Precautionary allergen...

Background Chronic cough can be triggered by respiratory and non-respiratory tract illnesses originating mainly from the upper and lower airways, and the GI tract (i.e., reflux). Recent findings suggest it can also be a prominent feature in obstructive sleep apnea, laryngeal hyperresponsiveness, and COVID-19. The classification of chronic cough is...

Background Limited information exists on nursing home (NH) residents regarding BNT162b2 vaccine efficacy in preventing SARS‐CoV‐2 and severe COVID‐19, and its association with post‐vaccine humoral response. Methods 396 residents from seven NHs suffering a SARS‐CoV‐2 B.1.1.7 (VOC‐α) outbreak at least 14 days after a vaccine campaign were repeatedly...

Assessment of the Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test (CARAT) using MASK-air

Older adults, especially men and/or those with diabetes, hypertension, and/or obesity, are prone to severe COVID‐19. In some countries, older adults, particularly those residing in nursing homes, have been prioritized to receive COVID‐19 vaccines due to high risk of death. In very rare instances, the COVID‐19 vaccines can induce anaphylaxis, and th...

One hundred and ten years after Noon's first clinical report of the subcutaneous application of allergen extracts, allergen immunotherapy (AIT) has evolved as the most important pillar of the treatment of allergic patients. It is the only disease‐modifying treatment option available and the evidence for its clinical efficacy and safety is broad and...

Background Limited information exists on nursing home (NH) residents regarding BNT162b2/Pfizer vaccine efficacy in preventing SARS-CoV-2 and severe Covid-19, and its association with post-vaccine humoral response. Methods 396 residents from seven NHs suffering a SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 (VOC-α) outbreak at least 14 days after a vaccine campaign were repe...

Introduction: MASK-air® is an app whose aim is to reduce the global burden of allergic rhinitis and asthma. A transfer of innovative practices was performed to disseminate and implement MASK-air® in European regions. The aim of the study was to examine the implementation of the MASK-air® app in older adults of the Puglia TWINNING in order to inves...

Background Nursing Home (NH) residents are at high risk of serious illness and death from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), especially with the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns (VOC). It is unknown as to whether a history of Covid-19 prior to the vaccine and post-vaccine RBD-IgG levels are predictors of BNT162b2 vaccine effectiveness against VOC-...

Background MASK-air® is an app that supports allergic rhinitis patients in disease control. Users register daily allergy symptoms and their impact on activities using visual analog scales (VASs). We aimed to assess the concurrent validity, reliability, and responsiveness of these daily VASs. Methods Daily monitoring VAS data were assessed in MASK-...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Die chronische Rhinosinusitis mit Nasenpolypen (CRSwNP) ist eine multifaktorielle entzündliche Erkrankung, oftmals auf der Grundlage einer Typ-2-Inflammation. Für die Behandlung von Patienten mit einer schweren Ausprägung ohne ausreichendes Ansprechen auf die Standardtherapie mit topischen nasalen Steroiden und/oder Zust...

Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) is an inflammatory condition of the upper airways. Optimal management is unclear. Objective: To compare the effects of monoclonal antibodies and ASA desensitization (ASA-D) for treatment of CRSwNP. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, ICTRP, FDA and EMA databases from i...