Respiratory Therapist

Let’s Read an Article a Month – March 2023

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The cropped screenshot of the first page of the article. It also includes the URL or link to the article.

Every month I try to read an open-access article. Then, I share the title and associated link with my followers. This is to encourage clinicians to read articles, stay up-to-date, and continue to grow.

The objective of this month’s paper is to “characterize the mental health and functioning of Canadian RTs and compare profiles between RTs working on and off designated COVID-19 units” (p3).

Characterizing the mental health and functioning of Canadian respiratory therapists during the COVID-19 pandemic

By D’Alessandro-Lowe AM, Ritchie K, Brown A, Xue Y, Pichtikova M, Altman M, Beech I, Millman H, Levy Y, Asma S, Hassall K, Foster F, Rodrigues S, Hosseiny F, O’Connor C, Heber A, Malain A, Schielke H, Lanius RA, McCabe RE, and McKinnon MC.. 

Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2023;14(1):2171751. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2023.2171751. PMID: 36880459; PMCID: PMC9990694.

Link to the article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9990694/pdf/ZEPT_14_2171751.pdf

“The results of the present study suggest the need for adequate mental health supports for Canadian RTs. “

page 8

“ Almost one in five (18%) of the participants scored above the cut-offs for depression, anxiety, stress and PTSD, collectively.”

page 7

“ Depression, anxiety and stress, PTSD and functional impairment scores did not significantly differ between those on and off COVID-19 units (p’s > .05) .“

page 7

“RTs are excluded from presumptive legislation surrounding PTSD in some Canadian provinces.”

page 8

Happy reading and learning,

Farzad Refahi

March 18th, 2023

https://respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-MARCH-2023/

Let’s Read an Article a Month – February 2023

by
The cropped screenshot of the first page of the article. It also includes the URL or link to the article.

Every month I try to read an open-access article. Then, I share the title and associated link with my followers. This is to encourage clinicians to read articles, stay up to date, and continue to grow.


The objective of this month’s paper is to evaluate “the dose-exposure and safety of nintedanib in children and adolescents with fibrosing ILD” (p2).

Nintedanib in children and adolescents with fibrosing interstitial lung diseases

By: Robin Deterding, Lisa R. Young, Emily M. DeBoer, David Warburton, Steven Cunningham, Nicolaus Schwerk, Kevin R. Flaherty, Kevin K. Brown, Mihaela Dumistracel, Elvira Erhardt, Julia Bertulis, Martina Gahlemann, Susanne Stowasser, and Matthias Griese for the InPedILD trial investigators.

European Respiratory Journal 2023 61: 2201512;
DOI: 10.1183/13993003.01512-2022

Link to the article: https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/61/2/2201512

“ The results demonstrated that nintedanib had an acceptable safety profile in this patient population. “

page 8

 “..the pharmacokinetic data from the InPedILD trial show that the weight-based dosing regimen achieved exposure in paediatric patients that was comparable to that observed in adults treated with 150 mg twice daily, supporting the use of this dosing regimen in the paediatric population.”

page 8

Happy reading and learning,

Farzad Refahi

Feb. 15th, 2023

https://respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-February-2023/

Let’s Read an Article a Month – January 2023

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The cropped screenshot of the first page of the article. It also includes the URL or link to the article.

Every month I try to read an open-access article. Then I share the link with my followers. This is to encourage clinicians to read articles, stay up to date, and continue to grow.

This month I found a great piece to share with you.  The objective of this paper is to “to assess the association of respiratory symptoms and lung function with occupation in the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease” (p6).

Association of respiratory symptoms and lung function with occupation in the multinational Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study

By: Jate Ratanachina, Andre F.S. Amaral, Sara De Matteis, Herve Lawin, Kevin Mortimer, Daniel O. Obaseki, Imed Harrabi, Meriam Denguezli, Emiel F.M. Wouters, Christer Janson, Rune Nielsen, Amund Gulsvik, Hamid Hacene Cherkaski, Filip Mejza, Padukudru Anand Mahesh, Asma Elsony, Rana Ahmed, Wan Tan, Li Cher Loh, Abdul Rashid, Michael Studnicka, Asaad A. Nafees, Terence Seemungal, Althea Aquart-Stewart, Mohammed Al Ghobain, Jinping Zheng, Sanjay Juvekar, Sundeep Salvi, Rain Jogi, David Mannino, Thorarinn Gislason, A. Sonia Buist, Paul Cullinan, and Peter Burney.

European Respiratory Journal 2023 61: 2200469; DOI: 10.1183/13993003.00469-2022

Link to the article: https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/61/1/2200469

“We found no significant associations between post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio or FVC and work in any of the high-risk occupations. FEV1/FVC was low in coal miners, sandblasters, chemical or plastic processors and steel millers with long durations of exposure, but these associations were not statistically significant. Moreover, there was no evidence of exposure-response associations of either post-bronchodilator lung function measures with any of the specific occupations.”

page 6

“Chronic phlegm but not chronic airflow obstruction was more likely to occur among users than among never-users of solid fuels.”

page 12

“The occurrence of occupational asthma, presenting with wheeze and breathlessness without affecting post-bronchodilator lung function. This can be induced by substances in workplaces such as animal dusts, flour, chemicals and metals.”

page 12

Happy reading and learning!

Farzad Refahi

www.respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-january-2023/

Let’s Read an Article a Month – December 2022

by
The cropped screenshot of the first page of the article. It also includes the URL or link to the article.

Every month I read an open-access article. I share the title and associated link with my followers to encourage clinicians to read more articles, stay up-to-date, and continue to grow.

The objective of this month’s review paper is “ to identify the types of available evidence and knowledge gaps in the literature regarding the delivery of aerosolized medication to neonatal and pediatric populations during mechanical ventilation” (p200).

Optimal delivery of aerosolized medication to mechanically ventilated pediatric and neonatal patients: A scoping review

By: Louise Chartrand, Victoria Ploszay and Sébastien Tessier

Canadian Journal of Respiratory Therapists (CJRT).
Published online December 16, 2022

Link to the article: https://www.cjrt.ca/wp-content/uploads/cjrt-2022-044.pdf

 “We, therefore, recommend more research on aerosol delivery to inform best practice guidelines. We specifically recommend further investigation of more varied ventilator settings and nebulizer positions on the efficacy of the delivery of different aerosolized drugs.”

p202
  • “ the superiority of mesh nebulizers and inferiority of jet nebulizers for delivering albuterol to pediatric patients” (p200). 
  • “Further studies are necessary to determine which [ventilator] settings have an impact and how settings can be optimized to enhance aerosol drug delivery to pediatric patients” (p201).
  • “Optimal placement of devices for delivering aerosolized medication remains unknown” (p202).

As always, take the time to fully read the article. 

Happy reading and learning,

Farzad Refahi

Dec 30th, 2022

https://respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-december-2022/

Let’s read an article a month – November 2022 

by
The cropped screenshot of the first page of the article. It also includes the URL or link to the article.

Every month I read an open-access article. I share the title and associated link with my followers to encourage clinicians to read more articles, stay up-to-date, and continue to grow.

The objective of this month’s paper is to “examine the associations of early-life upper and lower respiratory tract infections with lung function and asthma at school age” (p3).

Early-life respiratory tract infections and the risk of school-age lower lung function and asthma: a meta-analysis of 150 000 European children

By: Evelien R. van Meel, Sara M. Mensink-Bout, Herman T. den Dekker, Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia, Isabella Annesi-Maesano, Syed Hasan Arshad, Nour Baïz, Henrique Barros, Andrea von Berg, Hans Bisgaard, Klaus Bønnelykke, Christian J. Carlsson, Maribel Casas, Leda Chatzi, Cecile Chevrier, Geertje Dalmeijer, Carol Dezateux, Karel Duchen, Merete Eggesbø, Cornelis van der Ent, Maria Fantini, Claudia Flexeder, Urs Frey, Fransesco Forastiere, Ulrike Gehring, Davide Gori, Raquel Granell, Lucy J. Griffiths, Hazel Inskip, Joanna Jerzynska, Anne M. Karvonen, Thomas Keil, Cecily Kelleher, Manolis Kogevinas, Gudrun Koppen, Claudia E. Kuehni, Nathalie Lambrechts, Susanne Lau, Irina Lehmann, Johnny Ludvigsson, Maria Christine Magnus, Erik Mélen, John Mehegan, Monique Mommers, Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen, Wenche Nystad, Eva S.L. Pedersen, Juha Pekkanen, Ville Peltola, Katharine C. Pike, Angela Pinot de Moira, Costanza Pizzi, Kinga Polanska, Maja Popovic, Daniela Porta, Graham Roberts, Ana Cristina Santos, Erica S. Schultz, Marie Standl, Jordi Sunyer, Carel Thijs, Laura Toivonen, Eleonora Uphoff, Jakob Usemann, Marina Vafeidi, John Wright, Johan C. de Jongste, Vincent W.V. Jaddoe, Liesbeth Duijts”

European Respiratory Journal 2022 60: 2102395; DOI: 10.1183/13993003.02395-2021 . Received: 2 Sept 2021. Accepted: 9 March 2022.

Link to the article: https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/erj/60/4/2102395.full.pdf

  • “The prevalence of upper and lower respiratory tract infections was highest at the age of 1 year” (p4).
  • “The mean prevalence of asthma across all cohorts was 12.3%” (p4).

“1) early-life upper respiratory tract infections were associated with an increased risk of school-age asthma, not lung function, and 2) early-life lower respiratory tract infections were associated with increased risks of both school-age lower lung function (FEV1, FEV1/FVC and FEF75%) and asthma. “

p7

Happy reading and learning,

Farzad Refahi

November 9th, 2022

https://respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-November-2022/