CONCLUSIONS: Incidence density of lung cancer is high in COPD outpatients and occurs more frequently in older patients with milder airflow obstruction (GOLD stages I and II) and lower BMI. A DLCO<80% is associated with cancer diagnosis. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most frequent histological type. Knowledge of these factors may help direct efforts for early detection of lung cancer and disease management. PMID: 21799072 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine)

This study was to investigate the association between severity of asthma and rhinitis and degree of specific allergic sensitization in allergic patients in China.MethodA cross-sectional survey was performed in 6304 patients with asthma and/or rhinitis from 4 regions of China. Patients completed a standardized questionnaire documenting their respiratory and allergic symptoms, their impact on sleep, daily activities, school and work. They also underwent skin prick tests with 13 common aeroallergens. Among the recruited subjects, 2268 provided blood samples for serum measurement of specific IgE (sIgE) against 16 common aeroallergens. Results: Significantly higher percentage of patients with moderate-severe intermittent rhinitis were sensitized to outdoor allergens while percentage of patients...

While the skin prick test and allergen-specific immunoglobulin E tests are equally able to identify atopy in children with severe asthma, both tests should be performed due to poor concordance on individual allergens, say UK scientists.

Researchers have constructed an algorithm that simply and accurately rules out chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, without the need for invasive testing, in acute pulmonary embolism patients.