September 23rd, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
In June of 2007 the United States government instituted a Do Not Board list for people thought to have contagious, and possibly drug-resistant, strains of tuberculosis. Since that time, they have received 42 requests and added 33 names to the list. Those not added either agreed not to fly or were not contagious.
The US instituted the list after an Atlanta lawyer, Andrew Speaker, managed to return to the US after being asked not to fly and was quarantined by the CDC upon returning to the country.
Eighteen of the original 33 have been removed from the list: 16 because they were no longer contagious and two because they didn’t have TB.
September 21st, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
A recent study has indicated that an anti-oxidant found in broccoli, sulforaphane, may help slow the progression of COPD. The work is preliminary and conducted solely on mouse cells, but this research may hold the key to determining why some people develop emphysema while others don’t.
While eating broccoli may be good for your lungs, if you’re a smoker, the best thing to do for them is put down the cigarette.
via MedPageToday
May 19th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
A new small study finds that about half of people with obstructive sleep apnea may need supplemental oxygen during a commercial airline flight, even if they are otherwise healthy. Australian researchers from the Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Sydney undertook this study because of the rising rate of obesity, which is increasing the number of people with obstructive sleep apnea.
In this study there were 2 groups of participants who underwent an airline cabin simulation while their blood-oxygen saturation levels were measured. One group consisted of 22 patients with severe sleep apnea but no history of lung disease, and the other group was made up of 10 normal volunteers. During the simulation of commercial airline travel, both groups experienced a significant drop in oxygen saturation from normal, but the sleep apnea patients had a significantly lower oxygen saturation at all simulated heights. In fact, 11 of the 22 patients experienced a drop low enough to warrant the use of supplemental oxygen.
According to one of the researchers Leigh Seccombe, M.Sc., in MedPage Today, ”It’s too early to say what the clinical implications of the findings are. Many people fly, many people get hypoxic, but not many have adverse events.” One implication might be that the airlines may need to allow people with obstructive sleep apnea to use supplemental oxygen at a physician’s request, as they now do for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Via MedPage Today May 2008
Seccombe LM, et al “Effects of commercial flight simulation in patients with obstructive sleep apnea” Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2008; 177: A220.