Publications
COVID-19-related health utility values and changes in COVID-19 patients and the general population University of Antwerp
Purpose To summarise the diverse literature reporting the impact of COVID-19 on health utility in COVID-19 patients as well as in general populations being affected by COVID-19 control policies. Methods A literature search up to April 2023 was conducted to identify papers reporting health utility in COVID-19 patients or in COVID-19-affected general populations. We present a narrative synthesis of the health utility values/losses of the retained ...
Diagnosing viral infections through T cell receptor sequencing of activated CD8+ T cells University of Antwerp
T cell-based diagnostic tools identify pathogen exposure, but lack differentiation between recent and historic exposures in acute infectious diseases. Here, T cell receptor (TCR) RNA sequencing was performed on HLADR+/CD38+ CD8+ T cell subsets of hospitalized COVID-19 patients (n = 30) and healthy controls (n = 30; ten of whom had previously been exposed to SARS-CoV-2). CDR3α and CDR3β TCR regions were clustered separately before epitope ...
A metformin add-on clinical study in multiple sclerosis to evaluate brain remyelination and neurodegeneration (MACSiMiSE-BRAIN) University of Antwerp
Introduction: Despite advances in immunomodulatory treatments of multiple sclerosis (MS), patients with non-active progressive multiple sclerosis (PMS) continue to face a significant unmet need. Demyelination, smoldering inflammation and neurodegeneration are important drivers of disability progression that are insufficiently targeted by current treatment approaches. Promising preclinical data support repurposing of metformin for treatment of ...
Placing a value on increased flexible vaccine manufacturing capacity for future pandemics University of Antwerp
Estimating the cost-effectiveness of maternal vaccination and monoclonal antibodies for respiratory syncytial virus in Kenya and South Africa University of Antwerp
BackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes a substantial burden of acute lower respiratory infection in children under 5 years, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Maternal vaccine (MV) and next-generation monoclonal antibody (mAb) candidates have been shown to reduce RSV disease in infants in phase 3 clinical trials. The cost-effectiveness of these biologics has been estimated using disease burden data from global ...
Economic burden and health-related quality-of-life among infants with respiratory syncytial virus infection University of Antwerp Hasselt University
Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes a considerable disease burden in young children globally, but reliable estimates of RSV-related costs and health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the RSV-associated costs and HRQoL effects in infants and their caregivers in four European countries.Methods: Healthy term-born infants were recruited at birth and actively followed up in four European ...
Dynamics of non-household contacts during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 in the Netherlands University of Antwerp Hasselt University
The COVID-19 pandemic was in 2020 and 2021 for a large part mitigated by reducing contacts in the general population. To monitor how these contacts changed over the course of the pandemic in the Netherlands, a longitudinal survey was conducted where participants reported on their at-risk contacts every two weeks, as part of the European CoMix survey. The survey included 1659 participants from April to August 2020 and 2514 participants from ...
The estimated disease burden of COVID-19 in Japan from 2020 to 2021 University of Antwerp
Background: To date, it is not fully understood to what extent COVID-19 has burdened society in Japan. This study aimed to estimate the total disease burden due to COVID-19 in Japan during 2020-2021.Methods: We stratify disease burden estimates by age group and present it as absolute Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) lost and QALYs lost per 100,000 persons. The total estimated value of QALYs lost consists of (1) QALYs lost brought by deaths ...
Assessing the impact of COVID-19 passes and mandates on disease transmission, vaccination intention, and uptake University of Antwerp KU Leuven Hasselt University
PurposePolicymakers have struggled to maintain SARS-CoV-2 transmission at levels that are manageable to contain the COVID-19 disease burden while enabling a maximum of societal and economic activities. One of the tools that have been used to facilitate this is the so-called "COVID-19 pass". We aimed to document current evidence on the effectiveness of COVID-19 passes, distinguishing their indirect effects by improving vaccination intention and ...