Latest Respiratory diseases Stories

Higher mortality rates among older adult asthma patients compared to their younger counterparts may be due, at least in part, to an increase in airway inflammation, according to a study conducted by researchers in Canada, who note that their results imply that elderly patients are either less likely to follow asthma medication dosing instructions, or that the underlying airway inflammation in elderly patients is relatively resistant to current anti-inflammatory therapies. The study will be...

The majority of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) referred for pulmonary rehabilitation have multiple extra-pulmonary comorbidities, according to a new study from the Netherlands. "Comorbidities were common in our sample of 213 COPD patients from the CIRO Comorbidity (CIROCO) study, and most patients had varying combinations of comorbidities," said Lowie Vanfleteren, MD, of CIRO+, a center of expertise in chronic organ failure in Horn, the Netherlands, which is...

Pulmonary rehabilitation and improvement in exercise capacity significantly improve survival in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a new study from the UK. "While the short- and medium-term benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD patients have been shown, its effects on survival have not been studied," said lead author Johanna Williams, MSc, a researcher at the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust....

SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Data from a Phase II trial of olodaterol presented today at the 2012 Annual International Conference of the American Thoracic Society (ATS 2012) compared the efficacy of once-daily (QD) versus twice-daily (BID) olodaterol, a long-acting beta2-agonist (LABA) that Boehringer Ingelheim is evaluating as a possible maintenance treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), delivered via the Respimat® Inhaler. In this Phase II...

For more than three decades, researchers have warned of the potential health risks associated with exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), especially among children whose parents smoke. Now a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Arizona reports that those health risks persist well beyond childhood, independent of whether or not those individuals end up becoming smokers later in life. The study will be presented at the ATS 2012 International Conference in San...

A number of specific risk factors are associated with an exacerbation-prone phenotype of severe asthma, according to a new study from researchers in Sweden. The results will be presented at the ATS 2012 International Conference in San Francisco. "Acute exacerbations are a major source of morbidity and mortality in asthma," said lead author Maciek Kupczyk, MD, PhD, a researcher at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm "In children, the costs of asthma care are three times higher in...

There is a very high prevalence of osteopenia/osteoporosis among male patients with pulmonary disease, according to a new study from researchers in California. "While post-menopausal women are routinely screened for osteoporosis, men are not," said Kathleen Ellstrom, PhD, RN, APRN-BC, Pulmonary Clinical Nurse Specialist and Director of the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program at the Veterans Administration Loma Linda Healthcare System. "The high prevalence of bone disease we found in male...

TOKYO, May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- - GLOW2 study showed NVA237 superior to placebo and similar to OL tiotropium in increasing lung function, improving COPD symptoms and reducing exacerbations - Results demonstrated that once-daily NVA237 had rapid onset of action at first dose, sustained 24-hour bronchodilation, and was well tolerated over 52 weeks - NVA237 submitted forEU approval under proposed brand name Seebri(R)...

LOS ANGELES, May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- At the 2nd Annual Symposium for Lung-Sparing Therapies for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma held this weekend at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica, CA, international experts again re-affirmed the general consensus that radical operations which remove a patient's lung, such as extrapleural pneumonectomy, do not have a place in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma and may, in fact, do harm. Dr. Robert Cameron, Director of the UCLA...

SAN DIEGO, May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Elevation Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on the development of new aerosol therapies for patients with respiratory diseases, announced today positive results from a Phase 2b study of EP-101 in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive disease comprising chronic bronchitis and emphysema caused largely by smoking. Patients with moderate to severe COPD treated with EP-101 after seven days...