In vitro testing has shown that nicotine may play a role in making cancers more aggressive,1 but the currently available evidence does not suggest that nicotine in itself induces cancer.2 Despite this ...

Introduction Chronic non-invasive ventilation (NIV) has become evidence-based care for stable hypercapnic COPD patients. While the number of patients increases, home initiation of NIV would greatly ...

Background: Chronic cough is a common condition which has a significant impact on quality of life. Assessment and management are hampered by the absence of well validated outcome measures. The ...

Background Switching inhalers to cheaper equivalent products is often advocated as a necessary cost saving measure, yet the impact on patient’s health and healthcare utilisation has not been measured.

Background Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The extent to which the excess CVD risk is captured by risk factors in ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented surge in hospitalised patients with viral pneumonia. The most severely affected patients are older men, individuals of black and Asian minority ...

Background Reports of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) use in clinical practice reveal higher mortality rates than in corresponding randomised clinical trials. Aim To explore factors related to chronic ...

It is customary—albeit perhaps simplistic—to identify four ethical principles as the basis for good medical practice.1 These are beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for autonomy, and justice, ...

Introduction The gender-age-physiology (GAP) index is an easy-to-use baseline mortality prediction model in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The GAP index does not incorporate exercise capacity ...

There remain many treatment uncertainties in cystic fibrosis (CF). With limited resources, research should focus on questions which are most important to the CF community. We conducted a James Lind ...

Introduction Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) are a diverse group of pulmonary fibrotic and inflammatory conditions. The global burden of ILD is largely unknown, in part because of differences between ...

Introduction COPD is a heterogeneous disorder with varied phenotypes. We aimed to determine the prevalence of asthma history, peripheral eosinophilia and elevated FeNO levels along with the diagnostic ...