Respirology : official journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology
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The respiratory health effects from tobacco smoking are well described. Cannabis smoke contains a similar profile of carcinogenic chemicals as tobacco smoke but is inhaled more deeply. ⋯ There is a need to integrate research on cannabis and respiratory health effects so that gaps in the literature can be identified and the more consistent findings can be consolidated with the purpose of educating smokers and health service providers. This review focuses on several aspects of respiratory health and cannabis use (as well as concurrent cannabis and tobacco use) and provides an update to (i) the pathophysiology; (ii) general respiratory health including symptoms of chronic bronchitis; and (iii) lung cancer.
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The diagnosis of the peripheral lung lesion has been a long-standing clinical challenge--balancing accuracy with patient safety. With recent data revealing mortality benefits with lung cancer screening via low-dose computed tomography, now more than ever, clinicians will be challenged with the task of providing the means to provide a safe and minimally invasive method of obtaining accurate tissue diagnostics for the pulmonary nodule. In this review, we present available technologies to aid clinicians in attempts at minimally invasive techniques and the data supporting their use. In addition, we review novel tools under investigation that may further increase yield and provide additional benefit in obtaining an early diagnosis of lung cancer.
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Although randomization provides a gold-standard method of assessing causal relationships, it is not always possible to randomly allocate exposures. Where exposures are not randomized, estimating exposure effects is complicated by confounding. The traditional approach to dealing with confounding is to adjust for measured confounding variables within a regression model for the outcome variable. ⋯ These estimated propensity scores can then be used in various ways-matching, stratification, covariate-adjustment or inverse-probability weighting-to obtain estimates of the exposure effect. In this paper, we provide an introduction to propensity score methodology and review its use within respiratory health research. We illustrate propensity score methods by investigating the research question: 'Does personal smoking affect the risk of subsequent asthma?' using data taken from the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study.