Diminished lung capacity and development of persistent wheeze in children were associated with prenatal but not postnatal exposure to bisphenol A, according to recent study data. Adam Spanier, MD, PhD, MPH, FAAP, associate professor of pediatrics and behavioral pediatrics medical director, University of Maryland Midtown Campus, and colleagues studied 398 pregnant women between March 2003…
Independent associations were found between asthma and polycystic ovary syndrome as well as overweight and obesity, according to results presented here. “The results of this study need to be confirmed with results in other populations, and exploration of these relationships in longitudinal studies is needed,” Anju Elizabeth Joham, MBBS, FRACP, an endocrinologist and postdoctoral research…
Excessive iron build-up in the lungs could be a major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Weill Cornell Medicine scientists find in a new study. The investigators also believe that they have identified the culprit for the excess: A gene they previously found to increase patients’ susceptibility to the progressive lung disease. For their…
In analyzing 51 different flavored e-cigarettes, author of the study Joseph Allen and his team found at least one of three top toxins — diacetyl, acetoin and 2,3-pentanedione — in 47 of the e-cigs. Not only that, “the amount of diacetyl in 39 of the e-cigs exceeded the amount that was able to be detected…
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are both health conditions involving the respiratory system and can lead to difficulty breathing. There is some overlap between the two conditions and it is estimated that approximately 40% of patients with COPD also suffer from asthma. However, there are some distinct differences between the two conditions, in…
Pre-existing asthma may be a strong predictor of future chronic migraine attacks in individuals experiencing occasional migraine headaches, according to researchers from the University of Cincinnati (UC), Montefiore Headache Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Vedanta Research. The findings were published online in November in the journal Headache, a publication of the American…
Children who are raised in households with dogs or farm animals during their first year of life may have a lower risk of asthma a few years later, a new study suggests. In the study, the researchers looked at early exposure to dogs and farm animals and the rate of asthma among about 377,000 preschool-age…
If post-bronchodilator spirometry is required for the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), why doesn’t every single primary care physician do it? A University-based Primary Care Clinic (PCC) analysis revealed that only 19% of patients with COPD had undergone spirometry testing, which determines how well the lungs work by measuring oxygen flow. With COPD…