Several researchers from CINTESIS – Center for Health Technology and Services Research were awarded during the 40th Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (SPAIC), which took place on October 11-13 at the Palacio de Congresos of Algarve.
The entire research group coordinated by João Fonseca, integrated researcher at CINTESIS / Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), participated in this meeting, considered to be the biggest in this area in Portugal.
The 1st Prize for Best Oral Communication on Allergens / Asthma was awarded to a paper developed by researchers from this group, within the scope of the INSPIRERS project, whose first author is the CINTESIS researcher Cristina Jácome.
The aim of this study was to identify asthma control clusters and to compare the patient characteristics of such clusters. In all, 410 patients were analyzed, mainly teenagers and adults followed in different Immunoallergology, Pulmonology and Pediatrics services throughout our country.
According to the findings, three clusters associated with different clinical and behavioral characteristics of adherence to inhaler therapy were identified. Cluster 3, consisting of patients who were most concerned about the use of inhalers, “appears to indicate difficult-to-treat asthma”.
In addition, the group also won the SPAIC–LETI Scholarship for the best work on allergen immunotherapy for the work entitled “Control of allergic disease in individuals undergoing treatment with specific subcutaneous immunotherapy”.
This study found that two thirds of patients receiving subcutaneous specific immunotherapy “had good control of allergic respiratory disease” but “less than half had good control of rhinitis”. The award of this scholarship allows the participation in the next Annual Congress of the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI).
The CINTESIS research group is dedicated to the study of patient-centered technologies and innovation and respiratory diseases. In addition to the awards received, they actively participated in this SPAIC Meeting. The researcher Luís Araújo coordinated the Allergen Immunotherapy Course in Clinical Practice, while João Fonseca, and researchers Ana Margarida Pereira, Magna Correia and Luís Delgado were invited to moderate sessions and workshops.
Tiago Jacinto and Ana Margarida Pereira were invited to present oral communications on “Functional Assessment of Athletes” and “Aerobiology and Digital Health”, respectively.
In total, the group’s participation encompassed five oral communications presented by the researchers Ana Sá Sousa, Cristina Jácome, Ivânia Gonçalves, Mariana Pereira and Ana Margarida Pereira; and an eposter presented by Rita Amaral.
Other CINTESIS researchers also participated in this meeting. Among them was Bernardo Sousa-Pinto who won the SPAIC – DIATER Award with the work “Frequency of severe reactions following penicillin challenge tests: a Bayesian meta-analysis”.
This year’s SPAIC Meeting theme was “Allergy: a family pathology, a family of pathologies”. According to the organizers, immunoallergic diseases are in the Top 5 of the most common pathologies at all ages, from babies to elderly.