By Jadwiga A. Wedzicha, MD, editor, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
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Airflow Obstruction and Use of Solid Fuels for Cooking or Heating: BOLD Results
Does burning solid fuel for cooking and heating increase the risk of developing COPD? The answer from five systematic reviews is yes. However, André F. S. Amaral and colleagues came to the opposite conclusion with their large population-based study, Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease. The study, reported in the March 1 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, included more than 18,000 adults 40 or older from 25 sites in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Exposure to a coal, charcoal, wood or other solid fuel open fire was self-reported; airflow obstruction assessed from post-bronchodilator spirometry.
The authors caution that their study “does not mean that this exposure is not harmful to humans.” Among certain groups of women and men, exposure to open fires was associated with chronic phlegm. The authors also note that many other health problems are associated with solid fuels, including childhood pneumonias and airway malignancies.
AJRCCM Highlights
March 1
Preschool Multiple Breath Washout Testing. An Official American Thoracic Society Technical Statement: Executive Summary
CDHR3 Genetics and Rhinovirus C Respiratory Illnesses
Lung Microbiota Is Related to Smoking Status and to Development of ARDS in Critically Ill Trauma Patients
Reliability and Minimal Clinically Important Differences of Forced Vital Capacity: Results from SLS-I and SLS-II
Obstructive Sleep Apnea during Rapid Eye Movement Sleep and Cardiovascular Disease
Patient Information Series: Cigars
March 15
Long-Term Coarse Particulate Matter Exposure Is Associated with Asthma among Children in Medicaid
Corticosteroid Therapy for Critically Ill Patients with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
Comparison of Nutrition and Lung Function Outcomes in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis Living in Canada and the United States
Features and Outcomes of Methamphetamine-associated Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
B Cells Producing Type I Interferon Modulate Macrophage Polarization in Tuberculosis
