Section archive

COPD

Vitamins

Vitamin D deficiency may hamper lung function

In mice, Australian researchers found vitamin D deficiency reduced lung volume and lung function compared with controls. Lead author Graeme Zosky called it the first direct mechanistic evidence that deficiency alters lung development, which may help explain links to obstructive lung disease.

Supplements

Echinacea, vitamin C fight common cold, COPD

In a trial of 719 people with new colds, illness ran 6.34 days on blinded echinacea versus 6.87 on blinded placebo, and severity scores also favored echinacea. Media reports framed the result as no significant benefit; changes in interleukin-8 and neutrophil counts were not significant.

Dec 23, 2010

Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

The CDC counts COPD - emphysema, chronic bronchitis and in some cases asthma - as the fourth leading cause of US death, killing more than 120,000 Americans a year, and urges those at risk to learn the symptoms, ask for a spirometry test, quit smoking and avoid lung irritants.

Nov 24, 2010

Drug

Inhaled steroids boost diabetes mellitus risk, particularly in COPD patients

Montreal researchers tracked nearly 400,000 patients treated for COPD or asthma and found each year of inhaled corticosteroid use raised the rate of type 2 diabetes onset from 1.4 to 1.9 percent, a 34 percent increase, with the concern greatest for COPD patients.

Nov 13, 2010

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