Long-term inhaled corticosteroid treatment in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, and a recent hospitalised exacerbation: The ICSLIFE pragmatic, randomised controlled study.

Introduction: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) frequently have cardiovascular comorbidities, increasing the risk of hospitalised COPD exacerbations (H-ECOPDs) or death. This pragmatic study examined the effects of adding an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) to long-acting bronchodilator(s) (LABDs) in patients with COPD and cardiac comorbidities who had a recent H-ECOPD.

Methods: Patients >60 years of age with COPD and ≥1 cardiac comorbidity, within 6 months after discharge following an H-ECOPD, were randomised to receive LABD(s) with or without ICS, and were followed for 1 year.

The Additional Value of Lower Respiratory Tract Sampling in the Diagnosis of COVID-19: A Real-Life Observational Study.

Since December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has been causing cases of severe pneumonia in China and has spread all over the world, putting great pressure on health systems. Nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) sensitivity is suboptimal. When the SARS-CoV-2 infection is suspected despite negative NPSs, other tests may help to rule out the infection.

Long-term effects of inhaled corticosteroids on sputum bacterial and viral loads in COPD.

Inhaled corticosteroid-containing medications reduce the frequency of COPD exacerbations (mainly infectious in origin) while paradoxically increasing the risk of other respiratory infections The aim was to determine the effects of inhaled corticosteroids on airway microbial load in COPD patients and evaluate the influence of the underlying inflammatory profile on airway colonisation and microbiome.This is a proof-of-concept prospective, randomised, open-label, blinded endpoint study. Sixty patients with stable moderate COPD were randomised to receive one inhalation twice daily of either a combination of salmeterol 50 μg plus fluticasone propionate 500 μg or salmeterol 50 μg for 12 months.

Reducing agents decrease the oxidative burst and improve clinical outcomes in COPD patients: a randomised controlled trial on the effects of sulphurous thermal water inhalation.

Background: Inhalation of thermal water with antioxidant properties is empirically used for COPD.

Aims: To evaluate the effects of sulphurous thermal water (reducing agents) on airway oxidant stress and clinical outcomes in COPD.

Methods: Forty moderate-to-severe COPD patients were randomly assigned to receive 12-day inhalation with sulphurous thermal water or isotonic saline.

Asthma: a chronic infectious disease?

There are increasing data to support the "hygiene" and "microbiota" hypotheses of a protective role of infections in modulating the risk of subsequent development of asthma. There is less evidence that respiratory infections can actually cause the development of asthma. There is some evidence that rhinovirus respiratory infections are associated with the development of asthma, particularly in childhood, whereas these infections in later life seem to have a weaker association with the development of asthma.