[Guidelines for outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation in Austria].

Pulmonary rehabilitation has become a standard of care for patients with chronic lung disease. It has been clearly demonstrated that pulmonary rehabilitation improves exercise capacity and quality of life in patients with chronic lung disease and reduces the number of hospital days and other measures of health-care utilization in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This is an update of the guidelines in outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation in Austria, closely related to the official American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society Statement published in 2013.

[The Fetal Tobacco Syndrome - A statement of the Austrian Societies for General- and Family Medicine (ÖGAM), Gynecology and Obstetrics (ÖGGG), Hygiene, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine (ÖGHMP), Pediatrics and Adolescence Medicine (ÖGKJ) as well as Pneumology (ÖGP)].

Over more than 50 years, the nocuous effects of smoking in pregnancy on the fetus are well known. In the first years of science the focus was primarily on restricted fetal growth while in more recent years over 10.000 studies investigated the incomparably big sum of detrimental effects for the unborn's health.

[Guidelines for smoking cessation - update 2010].

In 2005, the ÖGP (Austrian Society of Pneumology) worked out the first standards of smoking cessation. With many new therapies, it is timely to update the guidelines of smoking cessation. This time all relevant professionals who are active in smoking cessation in Austria worked together in a big consensus process, not only the diverse medical professionals such as internists, pneumologists, or gynecologists but also psychotherapists, psychologists, and nurses.

[The effect of one year outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation on patients with COPD].

Background: The aim of our study was to determine the effect of one year of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on functional parameters and exacerbation rates in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: A total of 100 patients were enrolled in a multidisciplinary PR program. PR included endurance, resistance and respiratory muscle training.

[Smoking cessation with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) - a scientific update].

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is available in various application forms for the treatment of tobacco addiction. All forms underwent a comprehensive clinical study program (approx. 132 trial) to research on efficacy, safety and influence of environmental conditions.

[Varenicline - pharmacological therapy of tobacco dependence].

Every year about 1.2 million deaths attributable to smoking occur in Europe. Effective smoking cessation, therefore, is essential.

[COPD-rehabilitation].

Rehabilitation of COPD-patients is an important part of the therapeutic management. The effects of endurance- and resistance-training as well as respiratory muscle-training are evident. Smoking cessation therapy is standardized, effective and cheap, and is the prerequisite of a successful COPD management.

Self-administration and standardisation of the chronic respiratory questionnaire: a randomised trial in three German-speaking countries.

The chronic respiratory questionnaire (CRQ) has demonstrated excellent measurement properties in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but in its original form it is limited by the requirement for interviewer-administration and the individualised dyspnoea questions. The objective of this randomised trial was to examine the evaluative properties of the interviewer and self-administered German CRQ as well as of a standardised CRQ dyspnoea domain. In a multinational trial we randomly allocated 71 patients with COPD to complete the interviewer administered CRQ (CRQ-IA) or the self-administered CRQ (CRQ-SA) and other validation measures at the beginning and end of a respiratory rehabilitation program.

Self-administration and interviewer-administration of the German Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire: instrument development and assessment of validity and reliability in two randomised studies.

Background: Assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQL) is important in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Despite the high prevalence of COPD in Germany, Switzerland and Austria there is no validated disease-specific instrument available. The objective of this study was to translate the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ), one of the most widely used respiratory HRQL questionnaires, into German, develop an interviewer- and self-administered version including both standardised and individualised dyspnoea questions, and validate these versions in two randomised studies.