Connective Tissue Disease-Associated Interstitial Lung Diseases: Unresolved Issues.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) complicating connective tissue disorders, such as scleroderma and rheumatoid arthritis, is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Progress has been made in our understanding of these collective diseases; however, there are still many unanswered questions. In this review, we describe the current views on epidemiology, clinical presentation, treatment, and prognosis in patients with connective tissue disease (CTD)-associated ILD.

Clustering of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors is associated with a low adherence to recommended preventive practices among COPD patients in Spain.

Aims: To analyze clustering of unhealthy lifestyle behavior and its relationship with non-adherence to recommended clinical preventive care services among Spanish COPD patients.

Methods: Cross-sectional study including 2,575 COPD subjects from the 2006 Spanish National Health Survey (NHS) and 2009 European Health Survey for Spain (EHISS). Subjects were asked about the following recommended preventive practices: uptake of blood pressure (BP) measurement, lipid profile, influenza vaccination and dental examination.