The clinical respiratory journal
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Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is a prevalent condition that covaries with cardiovascular complications and most likely with arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus. ⋯ The diagnosis of OSAS should be performed with a polygraph, and the first-line treatment of moderate to severe OSAS is CPAP. Lastly, compliance for this treatment should be optimised with regular clinical controls.
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Requirements for diagnostic tests include high validity and good repeatability. ⋯ When designing a study to examine a diagnostic test, the following principles should be followed. First, the order of performance of the diagnostic test and the gold standard in repeated measurements should be randomised. Second, in repeated measurements, the test situations should be equal. Third, the technicians performing the tests should be blinded to the data obtained in the other test or to the result of the gold standard. A pilot study is recommended before conducting the study to examine the diagnostic test.
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Baseline clinical and physiological variables have been described as relevant predictors of survival among patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). However, substantial heterogeneity in both survival time and mortality has been observed with many of these predictive factors. The incidence and mortality rates of IPF vary from country to country, with race potentially contributing to such variations. ⋯ Finger clubbing is a significant predictive variable and was associated with a 5-fold increase in mortality. Other baseline demographic characteristics as well as pulmonary function tests were not predictive of prognosis in Middle Eastern patients with IPF. It appears that IPF patients of Middle Eastern descent have a longer median survival curve compared to other races.