8 September, 2020

Selecting treatments according to genetic differences could help children and teenagers with asthma, according to research presented at the ERS Congress. Researchers say that more work is needed, but their findings hint that children’s asthma symptoms could be better controlled with personalised treatments.

7 September, 2020

COVID-19 patients can suffer long-term lung and heart damage but, for many, this tends to improve over time, according to the first, prospective follow-up of patients infected with the coronavirus. Coronavirus patients recover faster if they undergo rehabilitation as soon as possible after coming off ventilators or leaving intensive care.

4 September, 2020

People who had bronchitis at least once before the age of seven are more likely to develop lung problems in later life. However, the lung diseases they suffer from by the age of 53 were usually asthma and pneumonia rather than chronic bronchitis.

4 September, 2020

‘Social smokers’ are more than twice as likely to die of lung disease and more than eight times as likely to die of lung cancer than non-smokers. Additionally, the risk of lung cancer death for ‘social smokers’ – those who smoke less than ten cigarettes per day – is not substantially lower than those who smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day.

Respiratory healthcare professionals, who have worked tirelessly on the front line during the COVID-19 pandemic, have been honoured with the annual European Lung Foundation (ELF) Award.

3 September, 2020

Flavourings combine with solvents in e-cigarettes to produce new toxic chemicals that irritate the airways, triggering reactions that can lead to breathing and heart and blood vessel problems.

3 September, 2020

Babies born with higher levels of cadmium in their umbilical cord blood may be more likely to develop childhood asthma and allergies.

25 August, 2020

Researchers have shown that night time coughing, measured via a smartphone app, can indicate that asthma is getting worse. The study is the first of its kind to measure patients’ coughing over a series of nights and show that it is a sign of their asthma deteriorating.

25 August, 2020

Babies exposed to levels of air pollution within EU standards develop poorer lung function as children and teenagers. The study also suggests that some of the risk from exposure to pollution can be reduced if babies are breastfed for at least 12 weeks.

24 August, 2020

Many COVID-19 patients develop ARDS and are placed on ventilators to help get enough oxygen into their bodies. New research presented at the Congress has found that having fewer different types of fungi in the lungs is linked to increased severity of disease in ARDS patients.

24 August, 2020

An automatic, electronic alert on general practitioners’ computer screens can help to prevent excessive prescribing of short-acting asthma reliever medication. The alert pops up when GPs open the medical records for a patient who has been issued with three prescriptions for short-acting reliever inhalers, such as salbutamol, within a three-month period.

Leading researchers in the fields of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, acute respiratory distress syndrome and interstitial lung disease have been recognised with four prestigious awards presented by the European Respiratory Society.