Page 22 - Comprehensive treatment of patients with glucocorticoid-dependent severe asthma
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                                Chapter 1
Scope and outline of this thesis
This thesis explores various aspects of the management of patients with glucocorticoid-dependent severe asthma and has the following objectives:
Chapter 2. To provide a literature overview on the current treatment of patients with severe asthma.
Chapter 3. To investigate the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms in patients with glucocorticoid-dependent severe asthma and whether these patients have elevated dysfunctional personality traits as compared to patients with non-glucocorticoid dependent severe and mild-moderate asthma.
Chapter 4. To investigate whether typical clinical characteristics of patients with severe asthma predict specific beneficial outcomes of alpine climate treatment.
Chapter 5. To discuss the findings of a landmark study on targeted treatments of patients with glucocorticoid-dependent asthma.
Chapter 6. To provide a literature overview on telemanagement strategies in asthma.
Chapter 7. To investigate whether an internet-based management tool facilitates tapering of oral glucocorticoids and leads to reduction of corticosteroid consumption without worsening asthma control or asthma- related quality of life.
Chapter 8. To discuss potential confounding effects (Hawthorne effect) in pragmatic studies.
Chapter 9. To investigate whether adherence to an internet based monitoring system influences a) health outcome, defined as the reduction in OCS use and b) costs related to medical consumption in patients with severe asthma.
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