If your patients have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), you may be thinking about having them quit smoking a little more seriously. There are proven benefits to quitting smoking. It can help improve symptoms and slow the progression of COPD. After hours, days, months, and years of quitting, there are benefits for the lungs and…
Commonly-used household products should carry a warning that they increase the risk of asthma, according to a new evidence review. New research conducted by Smartline, a research project funded by the European Regional Development Fund, finds evidence that a group of chemicals found in a wide range of products in people’s homes increases the risk…
Cognitive behavioral therapy can help people with COPD deal with the anxiety associated with breathing difficulties. Relaxation techniques are among the therapies people with COPD can use for anxiety. Imagine not being able to breathe easily. You’d probably be a little anxious. That’s what happens to many of the 12 million adults in the United States…
A new report [1] published by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) shows that, on average, smokers in England need care when they are 63, ten years sooner than non-smokers. The analysis, by Landman Economics for ASH, finds that 1.5 million people need help with everyday tasks, such as dressing, walking across a room and…
Specific factors, such as experience with technology and health literacy, were key drivers of whether a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) would benefit or be likely to use eHealth tools to improve self-management skills, investigators concluded. Motivation, comfortability with technology, and health literacy levels are the key factors influencing whether patients with chronic…
Researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) have been awarded a $30,000 CHEST Foundation Research Grant to study racial differences in lung health among smokers, with an emphasis on African Americans. Lung function is an important health indicator and can be compromised by various factors, the most important of which…
Even as COVID-19 was correlated with worse outcomes for people with asthma, the number of people receiving care for asthmatic episodes decreased during the pandemic, according to three studies published in Thorax. Two focused on the United Kingdom, the first a study in England comparing general practitioner (GP) visits and hospital admissions, and the other…
People living with HIV are approximately two-thirds more likely to be current tobacco smokers than HIV-negative individuals, according to the findings of a global meta-analysis published in AIDS. Elevated smoking prevalence was observed in both men and women with HIV and in all world regions except the Western Pacific. “This systematic review and meta-analysis is…