Widening the selection criteria for lung volume reduction surgery.

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Validity of a Consumer-Based Wearable to Measure Clinical Parameters in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Healthy Controls: Observational Study.

Background: Consumer-based wearables are becoming more popular and provide opportunities to track individual's clinical parameters remotely. However, literature about their criterion and known-groups validity is scarce.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the validity of the Fitbit Charge 4, a wrist-worn consumer-based wearable, to measure clinical parameters (ie, daily step count, resting heart rate [RHR], heart rate variability [HRV], respiratory rate [RR], and oxygen saturation) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and healthy controls in free-living conditions in Belgium by comparing it with medical-grade devices.

The one-minute sit-to-stand test: A practical tool for assessing functional exercise capacity in patients with COPD in routine clinical practice.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with a reduced exercise capacity. Although several field tests for exercise capacity have been modified for non-standard settings, i.e.

Vitamin D for the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: COPD is a common, preventable and treatable airway disease, and is currently the third leading cause of death worldwide. About one billion people worldwide are estimated to have vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency. Vitamin D deficiency is common among people with COPD, and has been reported to be associated with reduced lung function and increased risk of acute exacerbations of COPD.

Technical efficiency of ghanaian health facilities before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: Understanding the technical efficiency of health facilities is essential for an optimal allocation of scarce resources to primary health sectors. The COVID-19 pandemic may have further undermined levels of efficiency in low-resource settings. This study takes advantage of 2019 and 2020 data on characteristics of health facilities, health services inputs and output to examine the levels and changes in efficiency of Ghanaian health facilities.

Identifying limitations to exercise with incremental cardiopulmonary exercise testing: a scoping review.

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is a comprehensive and invaluable assessment used to identify the mechanisms that limit exercise capacity. However, its interpretation remains poorly standardised. This scoping review aims to investigate which limitations to exercise are differentiated by the use of incremental CPET in literature and which criteria are used to identify them.

The impact of digital interventions on health insurance coverage for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services utilization in Kakamega, Kenya: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) of Kenya was upgraded to improve access to healthcare for impoverished households, expand universal health coverage, and boost the uptake of essential reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) services. However, premiums may be unaffordable for the poorest households. The Innovative Partnership for Universal Sustainable Healthcare (i-PUSH) programme targets low-income women and their households to improve their access to and utilization of quality healthcare, including RMNCH services, by providing subsidized, mobile phone-based NHIF coverage in combination with enhanced, digital training of community health volunteers and upgrading of health facilities.

Hybrid compared to conventional pulmonary rehabilitation: an equivalence analysis.

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a well-established intervention for patients with COPD, but access, uptake and completion are low. This retrospective propensity-matched study aimed to analyse equivalence from a hybrid PR modality against conventional PR.

Methods: Between 2013 and 2019, 214 patients with COPD with valid baseline physical activity assessments enrolled in conventional PR for three times per week for 3 months.

The role of healthcare providers and caregivers in monitoring critically ill children: a qualitative study in a tertiary hospital, southern Malawi.

Background: Critically ill children require close monitoring to facilitate timely interventions throughout their hospitalisation. In low- and middle-income countries with a high disease burden, scarce paediatric critical care resources complicates effective monitoring. This study describes the monitoring practices for critically ill children in a paediatric high-dependency unit (HDU) in Malawi and examines factors affecting this vital process.

Short-Term Opioid Treatment of Acute Locomotor Pain in Older Adults: Comparison of Effectiveness and Safety between Tramadol and Oxycodone: A Randomized Trial.

Introduction: We conducted a head-to-head comparison of step 2 (tramadol) and step 3 (oxycodone) of the WHO pain ladder in older adults with moderate to severe acute locomotor pain.

Materials And Methods: Multi-center prospective randomized study. Patients were 70 years or older, admitted to the acute geriatric ward of three hospitals, suffering from acute moderate to severe locomotor pain, and opioid-naive.

Physical activity coaching in patients with interstitial lung diseases: A randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: Physical activity is reduced in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) and physical inactivity is related to poor health outcomes. We investigated the effect of a telecoaching intervention to improve physical activity in patients with ILD.

Methods: Eighty patients with ILD were randomized into the intervention or control group.

Implementation of an enhanced recovery protocol for lung volume reduction surgery: an observational cohort study.

Objectives: Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) is an established therapeutic option for advanced emphysema. To improve patients' safety and reduce complications, an enhanced recovery protocol (ERP) was implemented. This study aims to describe and evaluate the short-term outcome of this ERP.

The Association between Objectively Measured Physical Activity and the Prevalence of Comorbidities in Lung Transplant Recipients.

Introduction: Lung transplant recipients are often physically inactive and are at risk of developing comorbidities. We investigated whether objectively measured physical activity was associated with the prevalence of comorbidities.

Methods: Physical activity (accelerometry) and the presence of cardiovascular disease, symptoms of depression and anxiety, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, lower extremity artery disease, muscle weakness, obesity, and osteoporosis were assessed in 108 lung transplant recipients.

Development and feasibility of an exercise training program in primary care for patients with COPD experiencing an acute exacerbation.

Background: Starting rehabilitation soon after an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) is crucial to diminish the detrimental effects of this acute event on muscle function. However, uptake in outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation is low.

Objectives: To design and test a feasible, acceptable and accessible exercise training program (ETP) in primary care for patients experiencing an AECOPD.

Opioids in geriatric units in 14 Belgian hospitals: prevalence, dosage and associated factors.

Adverse effects of opioids are common among older individuals, and undertreatment as well as overuse can be an issue. Epidemiological data on opioid use in older individuals are available, but scarce in hospitalized patients. The aim of this study is to examine the one-day prevalence of opioid use among older inpatients and identify the factors associated with both opioid use and dosage.

The memory of airway epithelium damage in smokers and COPD patients.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a devastating and irreversible lung disease, causes structural and functional defects in the bronchial epithelium, the (ir)reversibility of which remains unexplored in vitro. This study aimed to investigate the persistence of COPD-related epithelial defects in long-term airway epithelial cultures derived from non-smokers, smokers, and COPD patients. Barrier function, polarity, cell commitment, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and inflammation were evaluated and compared with native epithelium characteristics.

Baseline characteristics from a 3-year longitudinal study to phenotype subjects with COPD: the FOOTPRINTS study.

Background: FOOTPRINTS is a prospective, longitudinal, 3-year study assessing the association between biomarkers of inflammation/lung tissue destruction and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) severity and progression in ex-smokers with mild-to-severe COPD. Here, we present baseline characteristics and select biomarkers of study subjects.

Methods: The methodology of FOOTPRINTS has been published previously.

The association of weather conditions with day-to-day variability in physical activity in patients with COPD.

Background: While patients with COPD often cite weather conditions as a reason for inactivity, little is known about the relationship between physical activity (PA) and weather conditions. The present study investigated the association of day-to-day weather changes on PA in patients with COPD and investigated patient characteristics related to being more or less influenced by weather conditions.

Methods: In this longitudinal analysis, device-based day-by-day step counts were objectively measured in COPD patients for up to 12 months.

Mucosal immune alterations at the early onset of tissue destruction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Rationale: COPD is characterized by chronic airway inflammation, small airways changes, with disappearance and obstruction, and also distal/alveolar destruction (emphysema). The chronology by which these three features evolve with altered mucosal immunity remains elusive. This study assessed the mucosal immune defense in human control and end-stage COPD lungs, by detailed microCT and RNA transcriptomic analysis of diversely affected zones.

Factors associated to physical activity in patients with COPD: An ecological approach.

Background: Physical activity (PA) is low in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Identifying modifiable and non-modifiable correlates of PA give understanding of the individual behavior and provide future directions for PA enhancing interventions. As PA is complex and multidimensional, it should be embedded within a thorough framework.

Sustaining training effects through physical activity coaching (STEP): a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programs improve physical fitness, symptoms and quality of life (QoL) of patients with COPD. However, improved physical activity (PA) is not guaranteed after PR and the clinical benefits fade off after PR discharge. We aimed to investigate whether a 9 months PA-telecoaching program is able to improve PA of patients with COPD, after 3 months of PR and if this leads to maintenance of PR-acquired benefits.

Machine learning to differentiate pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease from pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background And Aims: Pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease (PH-LHD) is the most frequent form of PH. As differential diagnosis with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has therapeutic implications, it is important to accurately and noninvasively differentiate PH-LHD from PAH before referral to PH centres. The aim was to develop and validate a machine learning (ML) model to improve prediction of PH-LHD in a population of PAH and PH-LHD patients.

The concomitant use of paracetamol and flucloxacillin. A rare cause of high anion gap metabolic acidosis in the frail oldest old.

Objectives: This article describes the occurrence of a high anion gap metabolic acidosis (HAGMA) in two older, female patients with a methicillin sensitive staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) infection. Both patients received flucloxacillin and paracetamol. Both of them initially improved but declined rapidly after two to three weeks of treatment.