Outdoor Air Pollution and Its Effects on Lung Health.

This paper summarizes key factors regarding outdoor pollution and its effects on paediatric respiratory health.

[Recommendations on interpretive strategies for routine lung function tests].

During the annual conference of the German Respiratory Society (DGP = Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pneumologie und Beatmungsmedizin) in 2024, updated recommendations for lung function testing have been published. The original full-length version can be downloaded free of charge as pfd-paper from the journal entitled "Atemwegs- und Lungenkrankheiten, Jahrgang 50 (2024) März (111-184)". In the current recommendations new approaches have been embedded that focus on modern interpretations of lung function results, as has been proposed by the ERS (European Respiratory Society) in collaboration with the ATS (American Thoracic Society).

The SQ tree sublingual immunotherapy tablet is effective and well tolerated in children-A pivotal phase III trial.

Background: Allergic rhinitis and/or conjunctivitis (AR/C) induced by tree pollen is common and negatively impacts quality of life in children and adolescents. This phase III trial investigated the efficacy and safety of the SQ tree SLIT-tablet in a paediatric population (5-17 years) with moderate-to-severe AR/C induced by pollen from birch and trees in the birch homologous group.

Methods: Nine hundred and fifty-two subjects were randomized (1:1) to daily treatment with SQ tree SLIT-tablet or placebo for up to 52 weeks and had free access to AR/C symptom-relieving medications.

Tobacco and COPD: presenting the World Health Organization (WHO) Tobacco Knowledge Summary.

The WHO recently published a Tobacco Knowledge Summary (TKS) synthesizing current evidence on tobacco and COPD, aiming to raise awareness among a broad audience of health care professionals. Furthermore, it can be used as an advocacy tool in the fight for tobacco control and prevention of tobacco-related disease. This article builds on the evidence presented in the TKS, with a greater level of detail intended for a lung-specialist audience.

EUFOREUM Berlin 2023: Optimizing care for type 2 inflammatory diseases from clinic to AI: A pediatric focus.

The European Forum for Research and Education in Allergy and Airways diseases (EUFOREA) organized its bi-annual forum EUFOREUM in Berlin in November 2023. The aim of EUFOREUM 2023 was to highlight pediatric action plans for prevention and optimizing care for type 2 inflammatory conditions starting in childhood, with a focus on early-stage diagnosis, ensuring neither under- nor overdiagnosis, optimal care, and suggestions for improvement of care. EUFOREA is an international not-for-profit organization forming an alliance of all stakeholders dedicated to reducing the prevalence and burden of chronic respiratory diseases through the implementation of optimal patient care via educational, research, and advocacy activities.

Outbreak of severe community-acquired bacterial infections among children in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), October to December 2022.

Purpose: In late 2022, a surge of severe S. pyogenes infections was reported in several European countries. This study assessed hospitalizations and disease severity of community-acquired bacterial infections with S.

Comparison of particles in exhaled air and multiple breath washout for assessment of small airway function in children with cystic fibrosis.

Background: The introduction of modulator therapy for cystic fibrosis (CF) has led to an increased interest in the detection of small airway disease (SAD) as sensitive marker of treatment response. The particles in exhaled air (PExA) method, which records exhaled particle mass (PEx ng/L) and number (PExNR), detects SAD in adult patients. Our primary aim was to investigate if PExA outcomes in children with CF are different when compared to controls and associated with more severe disease.

The Influence of Short-Term Weather Parameters and Air Pollution on Adolescent Airway Inflammation.

Fraction of exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO) is a marker of airway inflammation. We examined the main effects and interactions of relative humidity (RH) and air pollution on adolescents' FeNO. Two thousand and forty-two participants from the 15-year follow-up of the German GINIplus and LISA birth cohorts were included.

Characterization of Obesity in Severe Asthma in the German Asthma Net.

Background: Asthma is increasingly recognized as heterogeneous, characterized by different endotypes, with obesity not only a distinct phenotype but a risk factor for severe asthma.

Objective: We sought to understand the associations of obesity with relevant parameters of severe asthma, including asthma control, disease burden, and lung function.

Methods: The German Asthma Net registry is a multicenter international real-life registry capturing long-term follow-up data.

[Diagnosis and treatment of asthma: a guideline for respiratory specialists 2023 - published by the German Respiratory Society (DGP) e. V.].

The management of asthma has fundamentally changed during the past decades. The present guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma was developed for respiratory specialists who need detailed and evidence-based information on the new diagnostic and therapeutic options in asthma. The guideline shows the new role of biomarkers, especially blood eosinophils and fractional exhaled NO (FeNO), in diagnostic algorithms of asthma.

Full Breastfeeding and Allergic Diseases-Long-Term Protection or Rebound Effects?

A previous follow-up of the GINIplus study showed that breastfeeding could protect against early eczema. However, effects diminished in adolescence, possibly indicating a "rebound effect" in breastfed children after initial protection. We evaluated the role of early eczema until three years of age on allergies until young adulthood and assessed whether early eczema modifies the association between breastfeeding and allergies.

Allergic disease trajectories up to adolescence: Characteristics, early-life, and genetic determinants.

Background: Allergic diseases often develop jointly during early childhood but differ in timing of onset, remission, and progression. Their disease course over time is often difficult to predict and determinants are not well understood.

Objectives: We aimed to identify trajectories of allergic diseases up to adolescence and to investigate their association with early-life and genetic determinants and clinical characteristics.

Airway inflammation in adolescents and elderly women: Chronic air pollution exposure and polygenic susceptibility.

Background And Aim: The fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) concentration in the exhaled breath is a biomarker for eosinophilic airway inflammation. We explored the interplay between chronic air pollution exposure and polygenic susceptibility to airway inflammation at different critical age stages.

Methods: Adolescents (15 yr) enrolled in the GINIplus/LISA birth cohorts (n = 2434) and 220 elderly women (75 yr on average) enrolled in the SALIA cohort with FeNO measurements available were investigated.

Trace Elements in Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used in the Treatment of Diabetes-Do They Have a Role in the Claimed Therapeutic Effect?

Background: Medicinal plants are often used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, although knowledge about their mode of action and the substances responsible for their antidiabetic potential is limited. It is well known that some trace elements play a role in glucose metabolism and insulin action. Thus, a particular trace elements profile could be associated with the antidiabetic properties observed for some medicinal plants.

Biologicals in childhood severe asthma: the European PERMEABLE survey on the .

Introduction: Severe asthma is a rare disease in children, for which three biologicals, anti-immunoglobulin E, anti-interleukin-5 and anti-IL4RA antibodies, are available in European countries. While global guidelines exist on who should receive biologicals, knowledge is lacking on how those guidelines are implemented in real life and which unmet needs exist in the field. In this survey, we aimed to investigate the and identify open questions in biological therapy of childhood asthma across Europe.

Long-term Air Pollution Exposure Under European Union Limits and Adolescents' Lung Function: Modifying Effect of Abnormal Weight in the GINIplus and LISA Birth Cohorts.

Background: Abnormal weights, eg, obesity, has shown a strong modifying effect on the association between air pollution exposure and lung function impairment in adults.

Research Question: How might weight status modify the effects of long-term air pollution exposure on adolescents' lung function, particularly in areas with pollution levels much lower than the current European Union (EU) air quality standards?

Study Design And Methods: In this observational study, we investigated 2,224 adolescents from the German Infant Study on the Influence of Nutrition Intervention Plus Environmental and Genetic Influences on Allergy Development and the Influence of Life Style Factors on the Development of the Immune System and Allergies in East and West Germany birth cohorts. Lung function was measured at age 15 years.

First analysis of the Severe Paediatric Asthma Collaborative in Europe registry.

New biologics are being continually developed for paediatric asthma, but it is unclear whether there are sufficient numbers of children in Europe with severe asthma and poor control to recruit to trials needed for registration. To address these questions, the European Respiratory Society funded the Severe Paediatric Asthma Collaborative in Europe (SPACE), a severe asthma registry. We report the first analysis of the SPACE registry, which includes data from 10 paediatric respiratory centres across Europe.