Respiratory

In a press conference, HHS secretary Alex Azar provided updates on the US government’s response to the 2019 novel coronavirus. He was joined by the director of the CDC, Robert Redfield, MD; the director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Nancy Messonnier, MD; and the director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, MD.

The US Surgeon General, Jerome M. Adams, MD, MPH, has released the first report since 1990 that focuses solely on smoking cessation in America. Smoking accounts for the deaths of half a million Americans each year and is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the country.

Five issues in healthcare were spotlighted as key developments to watch; FDA to ban all e-cig vape flavors except for menthol and tobacco; Google AI system shown to improve detection of breast cancer through mammograms.

The fluid in e-cigarettes were associated with the near fatal respiratory failure of a teenage boy who was found to have an exaggerated immune response to one of its chemicals while vaping, according to a report published this week by doctors.

New trials are looking at what could be the next therapy or one that layers on top of present therapies to treat lung diseases, said Lisa Lancaster, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt Health.

A clofazimine-containing regimen was found to be well tolerated and potentially effective in patients with rapidly growing mycobacteria infection, especially nonpulmonary and non–Mycobacterium abscessus complex infections, according to retrospective cohort study findings.

Highmark announced this week that its outcomes-based contract with AstraZeneca for the respiratory combination medication of budesonide/formoterol (Symbicort) revealed positive results in improving outcomes for those with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Here are the top 5 articles for the month of October.

Reducing the use of metered-dose inhalers for asthma could shrink the carbon footprint while achieving cost savings if less expensive brands of dry powder inhalers are used, according to new research findings.

Every week, The American Journal of Managed Care® recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

This week, the top managed care news included the average Affordable Care Act premiums falling 4%; the FDA approving a triple combination treatment for cystic fibrosis; House Republicans releasing part 1 of their healthcare plan.

Lisa Lancaster, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt Health, discusses how sleep apnea is a comorbidity for other lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interstitial lung disease.

The FDA approved the triple combination of elexacaftor, ivacaftor, and tezacaftor, to be sold under the name Trikafta, as a novel treatment among patients with the most common cystic fibrosis mutation.

Several species of bacteria that can transmit respiratory infections have varying levels of response to the disinfecting agents used in municipal water treatment systems, with no one water disinfection strategy achieving complete microbial control, according to new findings.

African Americans who report high levels of chronic stress were shown to be at a heightened risk of developing high blood pressure, or hypertension, with specific stressors such as discrimination and socioeconomic status serving as possible catalysts, according to study findings.

Long term e-cigarette impact on humans remains unknown, although studies on mice suggest potentially harmful consequences for users.

An in-press study detailed the characteristics of 4 asthma endotypes and their association with asthma-related healthcare outcomes and responsiveness to treatment.

Research presented at the European Respiratory Society Conference 2019 details the novel use of a single inhaler combining 3 therapies, as opposed to 2, in 2 clinical studies on patients with severe asthma.

Pirfenidone was shown to potentially benefit patients with uILD in a phase 2 trial, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress 2019 in Madrid, Spain.

Adherence to documenting asthma severity or control and providing ample education to patients was low among physicians from 2012-2015, with primary care providers monitoring nearly two-thirds of asthma-related visits, according to a federal report.

Flavored e-cigarettes without nicotine were shown to have differing asthma outcomes on mice based on the flavor, indicating that some flavors may worsen the severity of allergic airways disease, according to a new study.

Individuals with HIV are often susceptible to opportunistic pulmonary infections, but the lung lesions resulting from these infections can be mistaken for lung cancer, according to a new study that aimed to characterize features of OPIs versus tumors in patients with HIV.

The Trump administration said Wednesday that the FDA will “prioritize” enforcement of flavored e-cigarette regulations in an effort to get them removed from the market.

Juul is being investigated for making unauthorized safety claims, while the governor of New York proposes to ban flavored e-cigarettes; Sutter Health is being sued for its role in rising healthcare costs; a European doctor who uses telemedicine and internet prescribing to provide American women with mifepristone and misoprostol to induce abortion in the first trimester is suing the FDA.

School-based telemedicine was shown to potentially enhance healthcare benefits for children with chronic diseases, such as asthma, in rural and medically underserved communities, according to a study.