In one of the largest studies of its kind Danish sleep researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Danish Institute for Health Services Research have examined the socio-economic consequences of the sleep disorders snoring, sleep apnoea, and obesity-related respiratory difficulties (obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS)).
These disorders are a serious health and social-economic burden on the individual and on society as a whole...
Mesothelioma epidemiology is one of the key factors in understanding the rare and aggressive cancer, providing significant insight by profiling who contracts it and what factors contributed to their diagnosis. With mortality rates rising 5 to 10 percent each year in most industrialized countries, studying patient demographics such as age, sex and location offers a critical understanding of the disease’s history while contributing to the consideration of potential prevention and treatment options.
Eight international case studies of 657 mesothelioma patients between 1965 and 1975 confirmed the causal link between asbestos exposure and malignant mesothelioma. More recent mesothelioma epidemiology shows that men in their 60s or 70s who worked in mining, shipyards, railroads, refineries or...
Home mechanical ventilation is usually started in hospital as arterial blood gas sampling is deemed necessary to monitor CO2 and O2 adequately during institution of ventilatory support. A non-invasive device to reliably measure CO2 transcutaneously would alleviate the need for high care settings for measurement and open the possibility for home registration.
Objectives: In this study we investigated whether the TOSCA® transcutaneous CO2 (PtcCO2) measurements, performed continuously during the night, reliably reflect arterial CO2 (PaCO2) measurements in adults with chronic respiratory failure.
Methods: Paired measurements were taken in 15 patients hospitalised to evaluate their blood gas exchange. Outcomes were compared 30 min, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h after attaching the sensor to the earlobe. A maximum difference of 1.0 kPa and 95% limits of agreement (LOA) of 1 kPa between CO2 pressure measurements, following the analysis by Bland and Altman, were determined as acceptable.
Results: Mean PtcCO2 was 0.4 kPa higher (LOA –0.48 to 1.27 kPa) than mean PaCO2 after 30 min. These figures were 0.6 kPa higher (LOA –0.60 to 1.80 kPa) after 4 h, with a maximum of 0.72 kPa (LOA 0.35 to 1.79 kPa) after 8 h. The corresponding values for changes in PtcCO2 versus PaCO2 were not significant (ANOVA).
Conclusions: PtcCO2 measurement, using TOSCA, is a valid method showing an acceptable agreement with PaCO2 during 8 h of continuous measurement. Therefore, this device can be used to monitor CO2 adequately during chronic ventilatory support.
Identifying tuberculosis patients in Africa using passive methods is leaving many cases undiagnosed, according to researchers from the Netherlands, Kenya and the United States, who studied case detection methods in HIV-prone western Kenya.
Tuberculosis (TB) occurs commonly in men and women with HIV, but in these patients TB can be more difficult to detect. The findings were published online ahead of the print edition of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine...
During the past two decades, a large number of studies have addressed the association of viral respiratory events in early life and the subsequent development of recurrent wheezing and asthma later in life. Investigations performed both in animal models and in humans have provided new insights into potential pathogenetic mechanisms discernible during acute and convalescent stages of viral events and their potential association with the long-term consequences of these events.
Retrospective analysis of clinical trials has suggested that the use of anti-respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) antibodies may decrease the incidence of subsequent asthma-like symptoms, but prospective data are lacking.
The strongest data for the association between early RSV events and asthma comes from longitudinal studies. The Tucson Children's Respiratory Study was based on a healthy and representative population, and its results, if not automatically applicable to all communities given the peculiarities of the Arizona desert, have been replicated in other population-based studies. The main findings from the Tucson study indicated that RSV, independent of other known risk factors for asthma, was significantly associated with recurrent wheeze in the first decade of life.
The results of a larger birth cohort, also population based, the ALSPAC study from Bristol points in the same direction as the Tucson study: children with a RSV bronchiolitis admission in the first year of life were more likely to have asthma at age 7 years, compared with controls and there was no relation with RSV infection and the development of atopy at this age. The issue of a possible relation between early life RSV bronchiolitis and the later development of atopy has been entertained by a series of studies, and the disparities of findings seem to be …