Annals of the American Thoracic Society
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Humidifier disinfectant lung injury is an acute lung disease attributed to recurrent inhalation of certain disinfectant aerosols emitted from room humidifiers. An outbreak of this toxic lung injury occurred in South Korea from 1995 until all humidifier disinfectant products were recalled from the consumer market by the government in 2011. ⋯ Dose-response analysis indicated that development of humidifier disinfectant lung injury and death were associated strongly with recurrent, intense, acute exposure without sufficient recovery time between exposures, more so than long-term cumulative exposure. These findings may explain some reversible or clinically unapparent cases among coexposed family members.
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Multicenter Study
Patterns of Daily Costs Differ for Medical and Surgical Intensive Care Unit Patients.
Published studies suggest hospital costs on Day 1 in the intensive care unit (ICU) far exceed those of subsequent days, when costs are relatively stable. Yet, no study stratified patients by ICU type. ⋯ Higher Day 1 costs are not seen in patients admitted to medical/nonsurgical ICUs.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Characteristics of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin-Deficient Individuals in the Long-term Oxygen Treatment Trial and Comparison with Other Subjects with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) predisposes to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but is underrecognized. Oxygenation and exercise desaturation in individuals with AATD-associated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been sparsely studied. The Long-term Oxygen Treatment Trial (LOTT) permits comparing these features of individuals with AATD with alpha-1 antitrypsin-replete (called "usual chronic obstructive pulmonary disease") LOTT participants. ⋯ These data suggest that individuals with AATD experience more profound desaturation with exercise than age-, sex-, race-, and FEV1-matched control subjects with usual chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT 00692198).
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Multicenter Study
Etiology of Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis in Adults and Its Correlation to Disease Severity.
Testing for underlying etiology is a key part of bronchiectasis management, but it is unclear whether the same extent of testing is required across the spectrum of disease severity. ⋯ Physicians should not be guided by disease severity in suspecting specific etiologies in patients with bronchiectasis, although idiopathic bronchiectasis appears to be less common in patients with the most severe disease.