Background There is increasing evidence that contact with other smokers, particularly in the family, is a strong determinant of risk of smoking uptake. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the ...

Background There is an increasing urgency for healthcare professionals to also consider the environmental impact when making decisions on care. For inhaled therapies, pressurized metered dose inhalers ...

Efficacy of omalizumab in severe asthma is well documented; however, the optimal duration of the treatment remains unclear. In an open prospective study, we sought to assess the persistence of ...

Background: Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AE-COPD) are a common cause of hospital admission. Many exacerbations are believed to be due to upper and/or lower respiratory ...

The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer was an example of an amazing international collaboration that has already led to improvements in the ozone layer, although the full ...

Recent years have seen an increase in recognition of women’s health and the importance of understanding how disease presentation, progression and management differ by sex and gender. Growing evidence ...

In hospital practice, pleural aspiration (thoracocentesis) and chest drain insertion may be required in many different clinical settings for a variety of indications. Doctors in most specialities will ...

Background Efficient therapy and potential prophylaxis are confounded by current ignorance of the pathogenesis of airway remodelling and blockade in COPD. Objective To explore the role of the ...

Background The Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) is a simple 10-item, health-related quality of life questionnaire (HRQoL) with good psychometric properties. However, little data exists regarding the ...

The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterised by pulmonary inflammation and increased pulmonary vascular permeability, which results in non-cardiogenic pulmonary oedema and ...

Background: Because they have chronic airway inflammation, adults with asthma could have symptomatic exacerbation after exposure to second hand smoke (SHS). Surprisingly, data on the effects of SHS ...

The pathogenesis and clinical features of gastro-oesophageal reflux related cough are complex and the diagnostic tests available are of limited reliability. Treatment needs to be tailored to the ...