New findings suggest differing chronic lung diseases are associated with varying risk factors among COVID-19 patients. A pre-print article from a team of investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School highlight the important of distinguishing asthma from chronic pulmonary conditions in interpreting patient risks due to coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). The findings, which…
More than one million people have given up smoking since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, a survey for charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) suggests. Of those who had quit in the previous four months, 41% said it was in direct response to coronavirus. Separately, University College London (UCL) found more people quit smoking in…
However, study finds allergic asthma did not significantly increase the risk of severe illness. Adults with asthma who became infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 were at higher risk of developing severe illness compared with adults who did not have asthma, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School…
Smokers and people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are more likely to develop severe complications and die from COVID-19 infections than infected patients who do not smoke or have COPD, a recent meta-analysis shows. This research, however, suggests that the prevalence of COPD patients and smokers among those infected is low. The study, “Prevalence,…
In this worldwide pandemic, there is nothing more important than protecting your patients from COVID-19, the highly infectious virus that targets the lungs. Smoking increases the risk of COVID-19 related complications due to decreased lung function. This means those who smoke are more susceptible to contracting a more severe case of COVID-19, and have higher…
What began with a handful of mysterious illnesses in a vast central China city has traveled the world, jumping from animals to humans and from obscurity to international headlines. First detected on the last day of 2019, the novel coronavirus has infected tens of thousands of people — within China’s borders and beyond them — and has…
Statin use was linked with a significant reduction in the risk of hospitalized exacerbations after an initial hospitalized exacerbation among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including specified frequent exacerbators, according to study findings published in the International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. In patients with COPD, comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and hypertension are common and…
Data from digital inhalers reveals an increased use of rescue inhalers for asthma symptoms due to short-term exposure to ozone, even below the ozone level set by the EPA. New data from digital inhalers confirms that exposure to the air pollutant ozone is strongly linked to increased use of inhaled medications for asthma symptoms, according…