Posted in global respiratory health on 03. Mar, 2010
I think one of the most questions I was asked most often while working at the CDC was whether indoor air filters were effective at reducing symptoms of asthma and allergy.
This week the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology has published a report on air filters and air cleaners that should help answer [...]
Posted in environmental health, epidemiology, global respiratory health on 19. Feb, 2010
Rural asthma study launching in the Midwest
Novel technology automatically tracks where and when attacks occur
Beginning next week, Madison-based Reciprocal Sciences, with funding from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will launch a new study to learn more about the problem of rural asthma in the Midwest. The study follows a recent report by [...]
Posted in epidemiology, global respiratory health on 16. Feb, 2010
Recently-revised NIH guidelines encourage physicians to more closely monitor patients to ensure that treatments are controlling their symptoms and improving quality of life. The results has been growing interest in measures of asthma control yet relatively little work done to compare the various measures against other methods of classifying asthma. This week, JACI and ERJ [...]
Posted in environmental health, epidemiology, global respiratory health on 09. Feb, 2010
Work-related respiratory diseases in the EU [Sigsgaard et al - ERJ]
New European Respiratory Society report surveys the epidemiology of the major occupational respiratory diseases in the EU, with a look at historic and contemporary risk factors, and an update on regulation. Highlights the emerging burden of occupational lung disease in “newer professions, such as public administration, [...]
Posted in global respiratory health on 02. Feb, 2010
Reduction in Asthma Hospitalizations, Definitions of Childhood Asthma; Confirmation of Asthma; Adult Asthma Trends
Rapid reduction in hospitalizations after an intervention to manage severe asthma (ERJ – Souza-Machado et al.) – Evaluation of the Programme for Control of Asthma in Bahia (ProAR) which focused on providing free management of severe asthma. Achieved an 82% decline [...]
Posted in global respiratory health on 15. Jan, 2010
I spent last week in the United Arab Emirates, attending a great conference sponsored by UAE University in Al-Ain to raise awareness of global health problems in the Middle East and neighboring Asia, and to draw attention to the region and its populations and health problems among the global health community.
As a result, I’ve been [...]
Posted in global respiratory health, inhaled drug delivery on 23. Nov, 2009
Last week in London I gave a presentation on the Spiroscout GPS inhaler device at the Inhaled Drug Delivery conference. It was a great meeting and I thought well worth writing up a few words on some of the presentations over the course of the next couple of weeks.
One of my favorites was a [...]
Posted in global respiratory health on 17. May, 2009
A recent article in the Economist surveys the drive toward frugal innovations in the Indian health care marketplace. This brief, compelling review describes the strategies and entrepreneurial activity being applied to identify and develop affordable approaches to a range of businesses in the health sector – from the delivery of advanced surgical care, to medicines, [...]
Posted in global respiratory health, inhaled drug delivery on 12. May, 2009
In my chapter in Anthropology and Public Health I noted that global respiratory health activities and guidelines tend to assume the affordability of asthma medications. I wrote a bit about the lack of affordable antiasthma medications in India and other low income settings, and how questions of affordability figure into the day-to-day decisions of physicians. [...]
Posted in global respiratory health on 01. Feb, 2009
Chronic respiratory disease is a serious and growing threat to global health. The WHO estimates that 300 million people worldwide have asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, already one of the top killers.
Having worked in clinical settings in low and lower-middle income countries, I’ve always been struck by the absence of basic equipment like spirometers [...]
