Annals of the American Thoracic Society

RATIONALE: In numerous cohorts, lung function decline is associated with all-cause and cardiovascular-cause mortality but the association between forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) decline and cancer-cause mortality, particularly after occupational/environmental exposure(s), is unclear. Exposure to dust/smoke from the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster caused inflammation and lung injury in Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) rescue/recovery workers. In addition, prior research found that over 10% of the cohort experienced greater than twice the age-related decline in FEV1 (≥64 mL/year)...

RATIONALE: The healthcare industry sometimes makes payments to physicians for non-research and research purposes in the United States. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the trends in non-research and research industry payments to pulmonologists since the inception of the Open Payments Database in 2013. METHODS: Using the Open Payments Database between August 2013 and December 2021, this population-based observational cohort study examined non-research and research payments made by the healthcare industry to pulmonologists registered in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System in the United States...

RATIONALE: Lumacaftor/ivacaftor (LUM/IVA) was shown to be safe and well tolerated in children 2 through 5 years of age with cystic fibrosis (CF) homozygous for F508del-CFTR in a phase 3 open-label study. Improvements in sweat chloride concentration, markers of pancreatic function, and lung clearance index2.5 (LCI2.5 ), along with increases in growth parameters, suggested the potential for early disease modification with LUM/IVA treatment. OBJECTIVE: To further assess the effects of LUM/IVA on CF disease progression in children 2 through 5 years of age using chest magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)...

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RATIONALE: Nearly 3 in 5 in-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the ICU, yet large scale data on the outcomes of in-ICU cardiac arrests have not been published for over a decade. OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine outcomes of in-ICU cardiac arrests evaluating both achievement of ROSC and subsequent survival to hospital discharge and how these have changed over time and by type of cardiac arrest. METHODS: This was an observational study using the Get With The Guidelines® (GWTG-R) registry, an American Heart Associated (AHA)-sponsored, prospective multisite registry of in-hospital cardiac arrest in the United States, including adults >=18 years of age with a confirmed initial cardiac arrest occurring in the ICU who underwent resuscitation...

RATIONALE: Air Pollution exposure is harmful to human airways and its impacts are best studied using concentration-response relationships. However, most concentration-response research on airway health has investigated chronic exposures, with less known about acute effects, which can be robustly studied using controlled human exposures. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the concentration-relationship between airway health measures and diesel exhaust (DE). METHODS: We conducted a double-blinded crossover study with 17 healthy non-smokers exposed to filtered air (FA) and DE standardized to 20, 50 and 150 µg/m3 of particulate matter <2...

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RATIONALE: Emerging research suggests that e-cigarette (EC) use may have detrimental health effects, increasing the burden on healthcare systems. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine whether young EC users had increased asthma, asthma attacks, and health services use (HSU). METHODS: This cohort study used the linked Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS, cycles 2015-16 and 2017-18) and health administrative data (January 2015-March 2018)...

RATIONALE: Poor adherence limits the effectiveness of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). A better understanding of CPAP adherence is needed to develop novel strategies to improve it. OBJECTIVE(S): To determine if chronotype (morning, evening or intermediate) of patients with OSA is associated with differences in CPAP adherence. If such an association exists, to determine the mechanisms underlying this association...

RATIONALE: Increased cardiovascular risk in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) persists after continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and alternative therapies are needed. Impaired endothelial protection against complement is a cholesterol-dependent process that initiates endothelial inflammation in OSA, which increases cardiovascular risk. OBJECTIVES: To investigate directly whether cholesterol lowering improves endothelial protection against complement and its pro-inflammatory effects in OSA...

RATIONALE: Studies estimating rate of lung function decline in cystic fibrosis (CF) have been inconsistent regarding methods used. How the methodology used impacts validity of the results and comparability between studies is unknown. OBJECTIVES: The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation established a workgroup whose tasks were to examine the impact of differing approaches to estimating rate of decline in lung function and to provide analysis guidelines. METHODS: We utilized a natural history cohort of 35,252 individuals with CF aged > 6 years of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry (CFFPR), 2003-2016...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

RATIONALE: Transbronchial lung biopsies (TBLB) are commonly performed by pulmonologists. Most providers consider pulmonary hypertension (PH) to be at least a relative contraindication to TBLB. This practice is primarily based on expert opinion as there is very little patient outcomes data backing it. OBJECTIVES: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the previously published studies to determine the safety of TBLB in patients with PH. METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases were searched for pertinent studies...

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RATIONALE: Mesothelioma has become a major health burden since the second world war due to the use of asbestos. Although many countries have imposed a ban on asbestos, there remains significant mortality and morbidity from mesothelioma owing to its long latent period and aggressiveness. Also, the use of asbestos is increasing in low-income countries, potentiating risk of mesothelioma in the upcoming decades. Assessment of global burden of mesothelioma is required to take proper measures against the disease...

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RATIONALE: Guidelines recommend inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and select indications, including asthma history, high exacerbation risk, or high serum eosinophils. ICS are commonly prescribed outside of these indications despite evidence of harm. We defined "low-value" ICS prescription as receipt of an ICS without evidence of a guideline-recommended indication. ICS prescription patterns are not well characterized and could inform health system interventions to reduce low-value practices...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.