Chest
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Multicenter Study
Trends in mortality from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among adults in the United States.
COPD imposes a large public health burden internationally and in the United States. The objective of this study was to examine trends in mortality from COPD among US adults from 1968 to 2011. ⋯ In the United States, the mortality rate from COPD has declined since 1999 in men and some age groups but appears to be still rising in women, albeit at a reduced pace.
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A 44-year-old man presented with a 3-day history of persistent upper-back pain, chest discomfort, and dyspnea. He denied any precipitating events such as trauma or vigorous activity before the presentation of symptoms. ⋯ Chest CT scan performed during an asthma exacerbation 2 years earlier demonstrated two left-side lung blebs. He had no prior surgical procedures.
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Severe respiratory failure develops in some infants with bronchiolitis because of a complex pathophysiologic process involving increased airways resistance, alveolar atelectasis, muscle fatigue, and hypoxemia due to mismatch between ventilation and perfusion. Nasal CPAP and high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen may improve the work of breathing and oxygenation. Although the mechanisms behind these noninvasive modalities of respiratory support are not well understood, they may help infants by way of distending pressure and delivery of high concentrations of warmed and humidified oxygen. ⋯ Two randomized trials compared CPAP with oxygen delivered by low-flow nasal cannula or face mask and found some improvements in blood gas results and some physiologic parameters, but these trials were unable to demonstrate a reduction in the need for intubation. Two trials evaluated HFNC in bronchiolitis (one comparing it with headbox oxygen, the other with nebulized hypertonic saline), with the results not seeming to suggest important clinical or physiologic benefits. In this article, we review the pathophysiology of respiratory failure in bronchiolitis, discuss these trials in detail, and consider how future research studies may be designed to best evaluate CPAP and HFNC in bronchiolitis.