Latest in Pulmonary News

Latest in Pulmonary News2019-02-15T07:28:32-05:00

Thirty-Day Hospital Readmission Metric Linked to Increased Mortality for HF and Pneumonia

Physicians are at increased pressure to reduce readmissions for certain chronic diseases. A recent study found that implementation of the 30-day readmission rules has been associated with increased 30-day post-discharge mortality for those hospitalized for heart failure and pneumonia.

Post-discharge deaths have increased by 0.25% for patients hospitalized with heart failure and by 0.40% for patients with pneumonia since the implementation of the 30-day readmission rules.
There are approximately 8 million hospitalizations during the study period. Such small increases may account for a large number of deaths.

The findings, published online in JAMA, come from a retrospective cohort study that compared mortality rates among 8.3 million Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for these common conditions before and after implementation of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP). This early data should lead physicians to exercise caution in discharging patients prematurely.

Source: Association of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program With Mortality Among Medicare Beneficiaries Hospitalized for Heart Failure, Acute Myocardial Infarction, and Pneumonia. JAMA. 2018;320(24):2542-2552. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.19232

Add Corticosteroids to Your Arsenal for the treatment of Inpatient Community-Acquired Pneumonia.

Corticosteroids were both beneficial and cost-effective for hospitalized adults with severe CAP. Hospitalized people with non-severe CAP may also benefit from corticosteroid therapy, but with no survival advantage

In 2015, results of two randomized trials showed that systemic corticosteroids were beneficial for some hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP; NEJM JW Gen Med Mar 15 2015 and JAMA 2015; 313:677; NEJM JW Gen Med Mar 1 2015 and Lancet 2015; 385:1511). Now, two new meta-analyses — one by the Cochrane Library, and one by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) — address whether CAP patients should receive systemic corticosteroids routinely.

These meta-analyses suggest that low-dose (≈40 mg), short-course (3–7 days) systemic corticosteroids should be strongly considered for hospitalized adults with severe CAP. These results do not apply to outpatients with CAP or to inpatients with hospital-acquired pneumonia or ventilator-associated pneumonia. Several ongoing randomized trials probably will clarify steroid use further for pneumonia indications.

Source:
The Cost-effectiveness of Corticosteroids for the treatment of Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Chest. 2018 Nov 15. pii: S0012-3692(18)32727-2. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2018.11.001.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30448195?dopt=Abstract

Home oxygen therapy for COPD: Does it matter whether the patient is hypoxemic? Evidence vs Reality

Home oxygen therapy for COPD: Does it matter whether the patient is hypoxemic? Evidence vs Reality?

Long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) is given to improve survival time in people with COPD and severe chronic hypoxemia at rest. The efficacy of oxygen therapy for breathlessness and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in people with COPD and mild or no hypoxemia who do not meet the criteria for LTOT has not been established. Scientific evidence for its benefits of LTOT dates back to the 1980s when two randomized controlled trials showed prolonged survival in COPD-patients undergoing LTOT for at least 15 hours/day. In contrast, the potential benefits of LTOT in non-COPD-patients has not been well researched and the recommendations for its application are primarily extrapolated from trials on COPD-patients.

Recent Cochrane analysis found that oxygen can relieve breathlessness when given during exercise to mildly hypoxaemic and non-hypoxaemic people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who would not otherwise qualify for home oxygen therapy. Findings show that COPD patients without severe hypoxemia undergoing oxygen therapy during exercise training over time do not achieve better exercise capacity or health-related quality of life compared with placebo.

However, LTOT has a beneficial effect on quality of life, dyspnea, and exercise capacity in patients with COPD and exertional hypoxemia.

Source:
Oxygen for breathlessness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who do not qualify for home oxygen therapy
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006429.pub3/full

J Bras Pneumol. 2018 Sep-Oct;44(5):390-397. doi: 10.1590/S1806-37562017000000019.
Impact of adherence to long-term oxygen therapy on patients with COPD and exertional hypoxemia followed for one year.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30517340

Latest in Pulmonary Research

  1. Banaschewski, BJH, Michki, SN, Sitaraman, S, Pan, R, Wang, JY, Stewart, D et al.. Emergence of inflammatory fibroblasts with aging in Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome associated pulmonary fibrosis. Commun Biol. 2025;8 (1):284. doi: 10.1038/s42003-025-07589-9. PubMed PMID:39987372 .
  2. Ruan, Z, Wang, Y, Fan, Y, Xu, B, Yuan, S, Cong, X et al.. The relationship between red blood cell distribution width and long-term prognosis of asthma: a population-based study. Sci Rep. 2025;15 (1):6487. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-87469-8. PubMed PMID:39987342 .
  3. Shen, Z, Li, C, Fang, Y, Chen, H, Song, Y, Cui, J et al.. Association between adverse childhood experiences with chronic kidney diseases in middle-aged and older adults in mainland China. Sci Rep. 2025;15 (1):6469. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-91232-4. PubMed PMID:39987259 .
  4. Sanborn, MA, Wang, X, Gao, S, Dai, Y, Rehman, J. Unveiling the cell-type-specific landscape of cellular senescence through single-cell transcriptomics using SenePy. Nat Commun. 2025;16 (1):1884. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-57047-7. PubMed PMID:39987255 .
  5. Wen, D, Li, W, Song, X, Hu, M, Liao, Y, Xu, D et al.. NF-κB-mediated EAAT3 upregulation in antioxidant defense and ferroptosis sensitivity in lung cancer. Cell Death Dis. 2025;16 (1):124. doi: 10.1038/s41419-025-07453-y. PubMed PMID:39987248 .
  6. Seçinti, E, Schantz, K, Delbecque, L, Krege, J, Mangrum, R, Curtis, SE et al.. Patient-centered assessment of treatment for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency: literature review to identify concepts and measures for people with alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2025;20 (1):83. doi: 10.1186/s13023-025-03592-9. PubMed PMID:39987184 .
  7. Khezri, R, Rezaei, F, Jahanfar, S, Ebrahimi, K. Association between maternal anemia during pregnancy with low birth weight their infants. Sci Rep. 2025;15 (1):6446. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-91316-1. PubMed PMID:39987181 .
  8. Khalili Fakhrabadi, A, Shahbazzadeh, MJ, Jalali, N, Eslami, M. A hybrid inception-dilated-ResNet architecture for deep learning-based prediction of COVID-19 severity. Sci Rep. 2025;15 (1):6490. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-91322-3. PubMed PMID:39987169 .
  9. Yang, L, Yang, H, Zhao, M, Yuan, H, Geng, J, Yan, Y et al.. Stage-dependent spatial distribution and prognostic value of CD8+ tissue-resident memory T cells in NSCLC. NPJ Precis Oncol. 2025;9 (1):51. doi: 10.1038/s41698-025-00831-x. PubMed PMID:39987153 .
  10. Zhao, F, Chen, M, Wu, T, Ji, M, Li, F. Integration of single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing to identify a distinct tumor stem cells and construct a novel prognostic signature for evaluating prognosis and immunotherapy in LUAD. J Transl Med. 2025;23 (1):222. doi: 10.1186/s12967-025-06243-6. PubMed PMID:39987127 .
  11. Workie, HM, Sima, BH, Bitew, AA, Tigabu, D. Time to recovery from severe acute malnutrition and predictors among children aged 6-59 months at public hospitals: retrospective follow-up study. Sci Rep. 2025;15 (1):6513. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-90541-y. PubMed PMID:39987123 .
  12. Onah, NM, Hoy, S, Slofstra, K. The costs of suboptimal breastfeeding in Ontario, Canada, and potential healthcare resource impacts from improving rates: a pediatric health system costing analysis. Int Breastfeed J. 2025;20 (1):9. doi: 10.1186/s13006-025-00702-y. PubMed PMID:39987118 .
  13. Seid, M, Bayou, B, Aklilu, A, Tadesse, D, Manilal, A, Zakir, A et al.. Antimicrobial resistance patterns of WHO priority pathogens at general hospital in Southern Ethiopia during the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular reference to ESKAPE-group isolates of surgical site infections. BMC Microbiol. 2025;25 (1):84. doi: 10.1186/s12866-025-03783-1. PubMed PMID:39987036 .
  14. Vigo, DV, Hudec, KL, Ferdous, S, Munthali, RJ, Pei, J, Munro, L et al.. Excess mortality in COVID-19-negative people with non-communicable disorders during the first pandemic wave. BMC Public Health. 2025;25 (1):736. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21782-9. PubMed PMID:39987034 .
  15. Ota, Y, Yumiya, Y, Chimed-Ochir, O, Hasegawa, A, Yoshida, T, Nagata, T et al.. Characteristics of patients with COVID-19 and smell and/or taste disorders depending on different virus strains: a cross-sectional study in Hiroshima, Japan. BMJ Open. 2025;15 (2):e088377. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-088377. PubMed PMID:39987009 .
  16. Ni, K, Wang, S, Zhang, X, Liu, S, Zhang, Y, Li, Y et al.. Association between clinical and pulmonary function features and diagnosis of cough variant asthma: a case-control study. BMJ Open. 2025;15 (2):e084721. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-084721. PubMed PMID:39987008 .
  17. Robinson, L, Feting, A, Isozaki, I, Seyfert-Morgolis, V, Jay, M, Kim, E et al.. Time-varying effects of COVID-19 vaccination on symptomatic and asymptomatic infections in a prospective university cohort in the USA. BMJ Open. 2025;15 (2):e084408. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-084408. PubMed PMID:39987006 .
  18. Ziakopoulos, A, Sekadakis, M, Katrakazas, C, Kallidoni, M, Michelaraki, E, Yannis, G et al.. Explainable macroscopic and microscopic influences of COVID-19 on naturalistic driver aggressiveness derived from telematics through SHAP values of SVM and XGBoost algorithms. J Safety Res. 2025;92 :393-407. doi: 10.1016/j.jsr.2024.12.010. PubMed PMID:39986858 .
  19. Gao, B, Gorgen, ARH, Bhatt, R, Tano, ZE, Morgan, KL, Vo, K et al.. Reprint of: Avoiding "Needless" nephrectomy: What is the role of small renal mass biopsy in 2024?. Urol Oncol. 2025;43 (2):102-110. doi: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2025.01.006. PubMed PMID:39986805 .
  20. Marques da Silva, B, Gameiro, J, Lei Teixeira, J, Costa, C, Branco, C, Oliveira, J et al.. Long-term outcomes after AKI in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Nefrologia (Engl Ed). 2025;45 (2):150-158. doi: 10.1016/j.nefroe.2025.01.009. PubMed PMID:39986713 .
  21. Young, N, Chen, W, Chatterjee, S, Gelzinnis, S, Latheef, AL, Simpson, J et al.. Characterising airway inflammation in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults with asthma and COPD. BMJ Open Respir Res. 2025;12 (1):. doi: 10.1136/bmjresp-2024-002619. PubMed PMID:39986687 .
  22. Nalwanga, D, Musiime, V, Kiguli, S, Olupot-Olupot, P, Alaroker, F, Opoka, R et al.. Effect of nutritional supplementation with lipid-based therapeutic food on body composition of non-severely malnourished African children aged 6-59 months hospitalized with severe pneumonia. J Trop Pediatr. 2025;71 (2):. doi: 10.1093/tropej/fmaf010. PubMed PMID:39986668 .
  23. Dodkins, J, Zachou, G, Rashid, A, van der Meulen, J, Nossiter, J, Tree, A et al.. Improving performance in radiation oncology: An international systematic review of quality improvement interventions. Radiother Oncol. 2025; :110798. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2025.110798. PubMed PMID:39986541 .
  24. Cabello-Aguilar, S, Vendrell, JA, Evrard, S, Thomas, Q, Roch, B, Escudié, F et al.. An optimized NGS Protocol for Detecting De Novo MET Amplification in NSCLC: Prognostic and Therapeutic Implications. Lab Invest. 2025; :104117. doi: 10.1016/j.labinv.2025.104117. PubMed PMID:39986540 .
  25. Erickson, PA, Chang, VC, He, S, Dagnall, C, Teshome, K, Machiela, MJ et al.. Occupational Pesticide Use and Relative Leukocyte Telomere Length in the Biomarkers of Exposure and Effect in Agriculture Study. Environ Res. 2025; :121174. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2025.121174. PubMed PMID:39986429 .
Search PubMed

Search Terms: Asthma, COPD, Lung Cancer, Pneumonia, Pulmonary Fibrosis

Copyright © 2016 Allergy Sleep & Lung Care. All Rights Reserved.
This website does not contain medical advice and the use of this website does not create a physician/patient relationship between you and Allergy Sleep & Lung Care.
Terms of Use | HIPAA Privacy Policy | Sitemap | Privacy Policy

Go to Top