Respirology : official journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Varenicline for smoking cessation: a placebo-controlled, randomized study.
Varenicline tartrate, a novel, selective, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist, has been developed specifically as a smoking cessation drug. This study evaluated the efficacy of a standard regimen of varenicline compared with placebo for smoking cessation in 333 subjects in China, Singapore and Thailand. ⋯ Varenicline was significantly more efficacious for smoking cessation than placebo over a 12-week treatment period and a further 12-week non-treatment follow-up period in smokers from China, Singapore and Thailand. No significant side-effects were noted.
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The site of care decision is one of the most important in the management of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Several scoring systems have been developed to predict mortality risk in CAP, and these have been applied to guide physicians about whether patients should be admitted to the hospital or to the intensive care unit (ICU). However, these tools were initially developed to predict mortality risk, and studies have demonstrated that the risk for death does not always equate with need for hospitalization or ICU care. ⋯ Limitations of these prognostic tools include their variable utility in the elderly, and their failure to include certain comorbidities (COPD, immune suppression) and social factors, in their calculations. The need for ICU care is also not well-defined by measuring the PSI or CURB-65, and other tools such as those developed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society (IDSA/ATS) guideline committee and the SMART-COP rule may have greater utility for this purpose. In the future, measurements of serum biomarkers, such as procalcitonin, may augment the information provided by prognostic scoring tools for patients with CAP.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The effectiveness of a bronchial drainage technique (ELTGOL) in COPD exacerbations.
Exacerbations of COPD are often characterized by increased mucus production that is difficult to treat and worsens patients' outcome. This study evaluated the efficacy of a chest physiotherapy technique (expiration with the glottis open in the lateral posture, ELTGOL) during acute exacerbations of COPD using as outcome measures sputum volume, length of hospitalization, reduction in dyspnoea (Borg score), improvement in quality of life (assessed by the St George Respiratory Questionnaire) and incidence of COPD exacerbations during follow up. ⋯ Chest physiotherapy using the ELTGOL technique has a limited role in patients with mild exacerbation of moderate to severe COPD with a tendency towards fewer exacerbations and hospitalizations.
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While recent meta-analyses suggest that OSA elevates daytime blood pressure (BP), most studies have included patients with mild hypertension, so CPAP treatment has only reduced BP by 2-3 mm Hg. To determine the strength of the OSA-BP relationship, this study examined the effect of CPAP in a cohort where severe OSA and under-treated hypertension coexist. ⋯ Hypertensive OSA patients can exhibit large falls in BP with CPAP at 1 month, with further significant reductions at 3 and 6 months. Overall, the fall in BP was proportional to the initial elevation of the BP with many patients achieving normal BP at 6 months.
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Transcutaneous blood gas-monitoring systems with miniaturized SpO(2) (peripheral blood oxygen saturation)/PCO(2) combined sensors (TOSCATM) have been widely used. There are no reports of the inter- and intra-individual variability in transcutaneous measurements of PaCO(2) (PtcCO(2)) in response to acute progressive changes in PaCO(2). This study examined inter- and intra-individual variability of PtcCO(2) measurements under semi-steady-state conditions, and characterized the behaviour of PtcCO(2) in response to acute progressive changes in PaCO(2). ⋯ The PtcCO(2) measurement system allows reliable estimation of PaCO(2) in a given subject. However, caution is needed when comparing absolute values between subjects or when acute changes in PaCO(2) occur.