Uncontrolled asthma predicts severe COVID-19: a report from the Swedish National Airway Register.

Background: Severe asthma increases the risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes such as hospitalization and death. However, more studies are needed to understand the association between asthma and severe COVID-19.

Methods: A cohort of 150,430 adult asthma patients were identified in the Swedish National Airway Register (SNAR) from 2013 to December 2020.

Predictors of severe COVID-19 in a registry-based Swedish cohort of patients with COPD.

https://bit.ly/2VHZIEm

Subnormal levels of vitamin D are associated with acute wheeze in young children.

Aim: This study evaluated risk factors for acute wheeze in preschool children and investigated whether subnormal levels of vitamin D were associated with increased risk for acute wheeze, atopy or viral/bacterial respiratory infections.

Methods: We recruited 130 children with acute wheeze, aged 6 months to 4 years, from paediatric emergency departments in Stockholm, Sweden, and 101 age-matched controls with no history of wheeze or sensitisation to airborne allergens. Parents answered standardised questionnaires, and blood samples were analysed for specific IgE to airborne and food allergens and levels of 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D).

Transcriptome analysis reveals upregulation of bitter taste receptors in severe asthmatics.

The causes of severe childhood asthma are poorly understood. Our aim was to define global patterns of gene expression in children with severe therapy-resistant and controlled asthma. White blood cells were isolated and the global transcriptome profile was characterised using the Affymetrix Human Gene ST 1.

Nocturnal temperature controlled laminar airflow for treating atopic asthma: a randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To determine whether environmental control using nocturnal temperature controlled laminar airflow (TLA) treatment could improve the quality of life of patients with persistent atopic asthma.

Design: Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial. Setting Nineteen European asthma clinics.

Problematic severe asthma: a proposed approach to identifying children who are severely resistant to therapy.

Children with problematic severe asthma (PA) are either difficult to treat because of the presence of aggravating factors or else severely resistant to therapy. We investigated a cohort of school-aged children with PA and compared these children to age-matched peers with controlled persistent asthma (CA). The aims were to characterize features of children suffering from PA and identify children who were severely resistant to therapy.

Infants' and toddlers' remembering and forgetting of a stressful medical procedure.

Objective: To examine whether a distressing medical procedure leaves lasting impressions in young children's memories.

Methods: Children 12- to 78-weeks old (N = 172) received inhalation treatment through a face mask or underwent other interventions at a pediatric emergency department. They were randomized to be presented with neutral cues and cues from the inhalation 1 week or 6 months after the target event.

Effect of nasal steroid treatment on airway inflammation determined by exhaled nitric oxide in allergic schoolchildren with perennial rhinitis and asthma.

Rhinitis is common in asthmatic schoolchildren who are allergic to animal dander and constantly and indirectly exposed to these allergens in their everyday environment. As a patho-physiological linkage between nasal and bronchial inflammation has been proposed to exist, the primary objective of this study was to determine whether nasal administration of mometasone furoate (MSNF) can reduce bronchial inflammation, as reflected in the level of exhaled nitric oxide (F(E)NO) in asthmatic schoolchildren with dander allergy and mild-to-moderate rhinitis. Forty such children were assigned randomly to be treated for 4 wk with MSNF or placebo, employing a double-blind procedure.

Exhaled nitric oxide in asthmatic children and adolescents after nasal allergen challenge.

Epidemiological data suggest a comorbidity link between nasal and bronchial allergic disease. Exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) is a sensitive marker of bronchial inflammation and increases after bronchial allergen provocation. We studied FENO in 19 children and adolescents with allergic asthma and 10 controls before and 2, 6 and 24 h after a single nasal allergen challenge.

Cumulative high doses of inhaled formoterol have less systemic effects in asthmatic children 6-11 years-old than cumulative high doses of inhaled terbutaline.

Objectives: To evaluate high dose tolerability and relative systemic dose potency between inhaled clinically equipotent dose increments of formoterol and terbutaline in children.

Methods: Twenty boys and girls (6-11 years-old) with asthma and normal ECGs were studied. Ten doses of formoterol (Oxis) 4.

Nitric oxide airway diffusing capacity and mucosal concentration in asthmatic schoolchildren.

Asthmatic patients show increased concentrations of nitric oxide (NO) in exhaled air (Feno). The diffusing capacity of NO in the airways (Dawno), the NO concentrations in the alveoli and the airway wall, and the maximal airway NO diffusion rate have previously been estimated noninvasively by measuring Feno at different exhalation flow rates in adults. We investigated these variables in 15 asthmatic schoolchildren (8-18 y) and 15 age-matched control subjects, with focus on their relation to exhaled NO at the recommended exhalation flow rate of 0.

Evaluation of exhaled nitric oxide in schoolchildren at different exhalation flow rates.

Nitric oxide (NO) in exhaled air is believed to reflect allergic inflammation in the airways. Measured levels of exhaled NO vary with the exhaled flow rate, which therefore must be standardized. The aim of this study was to estimate the optimal exhalation flow rate when measuring NO in exhaled air.