Impact of disease severity on quality of life in adults with asthma.

Health-related quality of life is increasingly used as an outcome measure in asthma. The aim of this study was to define the relationship between asthma symptoms, lung function and health related quality of life in a community based sample of people with asthma ranging from no recent asthma to severe persistent asthma. We recruited subjects at the age of 42 years from a well-described community cohort, the Melbourne Epidemiological Study of Childhood Asthma, to define this association.

Major haemoptysis in children with cystic fibrosis: a 20-year retrospective study.

Background: Major haemoptysis occurs in approximately 1% of children with cystic fibrosis (CF). This report describes management and follow-up of these children at a tertiary centre in Australia.

Methods: Retrospective review of medical records from 1980-1999.

Factors affecting clinical outcome in gastrostomy-fed children with cystic fibrosis.

In order to assess the effects of gastrostomy feeding on nutritional status, respiratory function, and survival in children with cystic fibrosis (CF), we studied all patients undergoing gastrostomy between 1989-1997 at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. Clinical information was collected from medical records, including serial measurements of weight-for-age standard deviation scores (WAZ) and forced expired volume in 1 sec (FEV1) (percent predicted). Measurements were compared for 2 years before and 2 years after gastrostomy placement.

Adverse effects of smoking on respiratory function in young adults born weighing less than 1000 grams.

Objective: To determine whether active smoking has an adverse impact on respiratory function of young adults of extremely low birth weight (ELBW; birth weight <1000 g).

Methods: This was a cohort study of 60 consecutive ELBW survivors who were born during 1977-1980 at Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. Respiratory function was measured on 44 (73%) of the subjects at a mean age of 20.

Chest physiotherapy in infants with cystic fibrosis: to tip or not? A five-year study.

There is controversy about the need for postural drainage physiotherapy in asymptomatic infants with cystic fibrosis (CF). We aimed to compare the effectiveness of standard postural drainage chest physiotherapy (SPT) with a modified physiotherapy regimen without head-down tilt (MPT) in young infants with CF. Twenty newly diagnosed infants with CF (mean age, 2.

Bronchial artery embolization for hemoptysis in young patients with cystic fibrosis.

Purpose: To review the authors' 15-year experience with bronchial artery embolization (BAE) for treatment of hemoptysis in young patients with cystic fibrosis.

Materials And Methods: By searching the 1985-1999 radiology database, the authors identified 23 young patients who had been referred to the radiology department for angiography. Twenty of these patients underwent BAE.

The Melbourne Asthma Study: 1964-1999.

A group of children with a past history of wheezing was randomly selected from the Melbourne community at the age of 7 years in 1964, and a further group of children with severe wheezing was selected from the same birth cohort at the age of 10 years. These subjects have been followed prospectively at 7-year intervals, with the last review in 1999, when their average age was 42 years. Eighty-seven percent of the original cohort who were still alive participated in the 1999 review.