Annals of the American Thoracic Society

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

RATIONALE: Exposure to particulate matter is associated with various adverse health outcomes. Ultrafine particles are a unique public health challenge due to their size. However, limited studies have examined their impacts on human health, especially across seasons and demographics. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of ultrafine particle exposure on the risk of visiting the emergency department for a chronic lower respiratory disease in New York State NYS, 2013-2018...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

RATIONALE: The use of race-specific reference values to evaluate pulmonary function has long been embedded into clinical practice; however, there is a growing consensus that this practice may be inappropriate and that use of race-neutral equations should be adopted to improve access to healthcare. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate if using race-neutral equations to assess percent predicted forced vital capacity (FVC%pred) impacts eligibility for clinical trials, antifibrotic therapy and referral for lung transplantation in Black, Hispanic/Latino, and White patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) Methods: FVC%pred values for patients from the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry were calculated using race-specific (Hankinson 1999), race-agnostic (Global Lung Function Initiative [GLI]-2012), and race-neutral (GLI-2022 or GLI-Global) equations...

RATIONALE: Malignant pleural effusions (MPE) are associated with significant health service use and healthcare costs, but the current evidence is limited. OBJECTIVES: To compare 12-month post-procedure: (1) health service utilization, and (2) healthcare costs following indwelling pleural catheter (IPC) insertion with at-home drainage performed by homecare nursing services, versus in-hospital chemical pleurodesis. METHODS: We performed a retrospective population-based study on a cohort of adults with MPE who underwent IPC insertion or chemical pleurodesis between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2019 using provincial health administrative data (Ontario, Canada)...

Rationale : A fatal acute exacerbation (AE) occasionally develops during chemotherapy for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) with comorbid idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Objectives : This study aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of carboplatin, etoposide, and nintedanib combination therapy for unresectable SCLC with comorbid IPF. Methods : The NEXT-SHIP study is a multicenter, single-arm, phase 2 trial for unresectable SCLC with IPF (registry number: jRCTs031190119). The patients received carboplatin, etoposide, and nintedanib (150 mg BID)...

RATIONALE: Randomized controlled trials of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention among patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have been largely neutral. However, given OSA is a heterogeneous disease, there may be unidentified subgroups demonstrating differential treatment effects. OBJECTIVES: Apply a novel data-drive approach to identify non-sleepy OSA subgroups with heterogeneous effects of CPAP on CVD outcomes within the ISAACC study...

Rationale Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema are associated with endothelial damage and altered pulmonary microvascular perfusion. Molecular mechanisms underlying these changes are poorly understood in patients due, in part, to the inaccessibility of the pulmonary vasculature. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) interact with the pulmonary endothelium. Objective To test the association between gene expression in PBMCs and pulmonary microvascular perfusion in COPD. Methods The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) COPD Study recruited two independent samples of COPD cases and controls with 10 or more pack-years...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

RATIONALE: Particulate matter (PM) exposure exacerbates health outcomes by causing lung damage. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether prior exposure to PM10 and PM2.5 was associated with clinical outcomes among patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). METHODS: Data from the nationwide registration database of the National Health Insurance and Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency in South Korea were used. The study included adult patients who were admitted to monitoring centers or hospitals between October 8, 2020, and December 31, 2021, after COVID-19 confirmation...

Rationale: Long-term recovery following critical illness can be affected by Post-intensive Care Syndrome (PICS), a significant burden which can impact return to activities and work. There is need for streamlined support for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients in their recovery whilst enduring PICS symptoms. Objectives: To explore critical illness recovery from the experiences, perspectives, and beliefs of former ICU patients, their caregivers, and multidisciplinary clinicians to design a future rehabilitation pathway to support ICU patients...

RATIONALE: Oral appliances are second-line treatments options after continuous positive airway pressure for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) management. However, the need for oral appliance titration limits their use due to monitoring challenges to assess the treatment effect. OBJECTIVES: To assess the validity of mandibular jaw movements (MJM) automated analysis compared to polysomnography/polygraphy (PSG/PG) in evaluating the effect of oral appliance treatment and the effectiveness of MJM monitoring for oral appliance titration at home in OSA patients...

RATIONALE: While patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have a higher risk for COVID-19 hospitalization, the causal relationship has remained unexplored. OBJECTIVES: To understand the causal relationship between OSA and COVID-19 leveraging data from vaccination and electronic health records, genetic risk factors from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and Mendelian randomization. METHODS: We elucidated genetic risk factors for OSA using FinnGen (N total = 377,277 individuals) performing genome-wide association...

RATIONALE: Patients identified as Hispanic, the largest minority group in the United States (U.S.), are more likely to die from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) than non-Hispanic patients. Mechanisms to explain this disparity remain unidentified. However, Hispanic patients may be at risk of overexposure to deep sedation due to language differences between patients and clinicians, and deep sedation is associated with higher ARDS mortality. OBJECTIVE: We examined associations between Hispanic ethnicity and exposure to deep sedation among patients with ARDS...

RATIONALE: Understanding contributors to costly and potentially burdensome care for patients with dementia is of interest to healthcare systems and may facilitate efforts to promote goal-concordant care. OBJECTIVE: To identify risk factors, in particular whether an early goals of care discussion (GOCD) took place, for high-cost hospitalization among patients with dementia and acute respiratory failure. METHODS: We conducted an electronic health record-based retrospective cohort study of 298 adults with dementia hospitalized with respiratory failure (receiving ≥48 hours mechanical ventilation) within an academic healthcare system...