User login
Bringing you the latest news, research and reviews, exclusive interviews, podcasts, quizzes, and more.
Powered by CHEST Physician, Clinician Reviews, MDedge Family Medicine, Internal Medicine News, and The Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management.
Ask about vaping in patients with respiratory symptoms, CDC says
“Do you vape?” may be one of the most important questions health care can providers can ask patients who present with respiratory symptoms this winter.
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Accordingly, providers need to ask patients with respiratory, gastrointestinal, or constitutional symptoms about their use of e-cigarette or vaping products, according to one several new CDC recommendations that appear in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review.
“E-cigarette or vaping product use–associated lung injury (EVALI) remains a diagnosis of exclusion because, at present, no specific test or marker exists for its diagnosis, and evaluation should be guided by clinical judgment,” the CDC report reads.
As of Nov. 13, there have been 2,172 cases of EVALI reported to CDC, of which 42 (1.9%) have been fatal. Most of the patients with EVALI have been white (79%), male (68%), and under the age of 35 years (77%), according to CDC data.
Although vitamin E acetate was recently implicated as a potential cause of EVALI, the agency said evidence is “not sufficient” at this point in their investigation to rule out other chemicals of potential concern.
“Many different substances and product sources are still under investigation, and it might be that there is more than one cause of this outbreak,” CDC said.
Further recommendations
Beyond asking about vape use, providers should evaluate suspected EVALI with pulse oximetry and chest imaging, and should consider outpatient management for patients who are clinically stable, according to the recommendations.
The agency said influenza testing should be “strongly considered,” especially during influenza season, given that EVALI is a diagnosis of exclusion and that it may co-occur with other respiratory illnesses. Antimicrobials (including antivirals) should be given as warranted, they added.
Corticosteroids may be helpful in treating EVALI, but may worsen respiratory infections typically seen in outpatients, and so should be prescribed with caution in the outpatient setting, the CDC recommended.
Behavioral counseling, addiction treatment services, and Food and Drug Administration–approved cessation medications are recommended to help patients quit vaping or e-cigarette products, CDC said.
Health care providers should emphasize the importance of an annual flu shot for all patients 6 months of age or older, including those who use e-cigarette or vaping products, according to the agency.
“It is not known whether patients with EVALI are at higher risk for severe complications of influenza or other respiratory infections,” the report reads.
Blame it on vitamin E? THC? Other?
The report details how, as previously reported, vitamin E acetate was detected in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from 29 patients with EVALI. Although other chemicals could contribute to EVALI, that finding provided “direct evidence” of vitamin E acetate at the primary site of injury, according to CDC.
Most patients with EVALI, 83%, have reported using a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing e-cigarette or vaping product, according to CDC, while 61% reported using a nicotine-containing product.
Based on that, CDC recommended that people avoid using THC-containing products. However, the agency cautioned that the specific cause or causes of EVALI remain to be elucidated.
“The only way for persons to assure that they are not at risk is to consider refraining from use of all e-cigarette, or vaping, products while this investigation continues,” CDC said in the report.
The need for this additional clinical guidance was assessed in anticipation of the seasonal uptick in influenza and other respiratory infections, according to the CDC, which said the recommendations were based in part on individual clinical perspectives from nine national experts who participated in a previously published clinical guidance on managing patients with EVALI.
SOURCES: Jatlaoui TC et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2019 Nov 19. doi. 10.15585/mmwr.mm6846e2; Chatham-Stephens K et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2019 Nov 19. doi. 10.15585/mmwr.mm6846e1.
“Do you vape?” may be one of the most important questions health care can providers can ask patients who present with respiratory symptoms this winter.
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Accordingly, providers need to ask patients with respiratory, gastrointestinal, or constitutional symptoms about their use of e-cigarette or vaping products, according to one several new CDC recommendations that appear in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review.
“E-cigarette or vaping product use–associated lung injury (EVALI) remains a diagnosis of exclusion because, at present, no specific test or marker exists for its diagnosis, and evaluation should be guided by clinical judgment,” the CDC report reads.
As of Nov. 13, there have been 2,172 cases of EVALI reported to CDC, of which 42 (1.9%) have been fatal. Most of the patients with EVALI have been white (79%), male (68%), and under the age of 35 years (77%), according to CDC data.
Although vitamin E acetate was recently implicated as a potential cause of EVALI, the agency said evidence is “not sufficient” at this point in their investigation to rule out other chemicals of potential concern.
“Many different substances and product sources are still under investigation, and it might be that there is more than one cause of this outbreak,” CDC said.
Further recommendations
Beyond asking about vape use, providers should evaluate suspected EVALI with pulse oximetry and chest imaging, and should consider outpatient management for patients who are clinically stable, according to the recommendations.
The agency said influenza testing should be “strongly considered,” especially during influenza season, given that EVALI is a diagnosis of exclusion and that it may co-occur with other respiratory illnesses. Antimicrobials (including antivirals) should be given as warranted, they added.
Corticosteroids may be helpful in treating EVALI, but may worsen respiratory infections typically seen in outpatients, and so should be prescribed with caution in the outpatient setting, the CDC recommended.
Behavioral counseling, addiction treatment services, and Food and Drug Administration–approved cessation medications are recommended to help patients quit vaping or e-cigarette products, CDC said.
Health care providers should emphasize the importance of an annual flu shot for all patients 6 months of age or older, including those who use e-cigarette or vaping products, according to the agency.
“It is not known whether patients with EVALI are at higher risk for severe complications of influenza or other respiratory infections,” the report reads.
Blame it on vitamin E? THC? Other?
The report details how, as previously reported, vitamin E acetate was detected in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from 29 patients with EVALI. Although other chemicals could contribute to EVALI, that finding provided “direct evidence” of vitamin E acetate at the primary site of injury, according to CDC.
Most patients with EVALI, 83%, have reported using a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing e-cigarette or vaping product, according to CDC, while 61% reported using a nicotine-containing product.
Based on that, CDC recommended that people avoid using THC-containing products. However, the agency cautioned that the specific cause or causes of EVALI remain to be elucidated.
“The only way for persons to assure that they are not at risk is to consider refraining from use of all e-cigarette, or vaping, products while this investigation continues,” CDC said in the report.
The need for this additional clinical guidance was assessed in anticipation of the seasonal uptick in influenza and other respiratory infections, according to the CDC, which said the recommendations were based in part on individual clinical perspectives from nine national experts who participated in a previously published clinical guidance on managing patients with EVALI.
SOURCES: Jatlaoui TC et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2019 Nov 19. doi. 10.15585/mmwr.mm6846e2; Chatham-Stephens K et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2019 Nov 19. doi. 10.15585/mmwr.mm6846e1.
“Do you vape?” may be one of the most important questions health care can providers can ask patients who present with respiratory symptoms this winter.
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Accordingly, providers need to ask patients with respiratory, gastrointestinal, or constitutional symptoms about their use of e-cigarette or vaping products, according to one several new CDC recommendations that appear in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review.
“E-cigarette or vaping product use–associated lung injury (EVALI) remains a diagnosis of exclusion because, at present, no specific test or marker exists for its diagnosis, and evaluation should be guided by clinical judgment,” the CDC report reads.
As of Nov. 13, there have been 2,172 cases of EVALI reported to CDC, of which 42 (1.9%) have been fatal. Most of the patients with EVALI have been white (79%), male (68%), and under the age of 35 years (77%), according to CDC data.
Although vitamin E acetate was recently implicated as a potential cause of EVALI, the agency said evidence is “not sufficient” at this point in their investigation to rule out other chemicals of potential concern.
“Many different substances and product sources are still under investigation, and it might be that there is more than one cause of this outbreak,” CDC said.
Further recommendations
Beyond asking about vape use, providers should evaluate suspected EVALI with pulse oximetry and chest imaging, and should consider outpatient management for patients who are clinically stable, according to the recommendations.
The agency said influenza testing should be “strongly considered,” especially during influenza season, given that EVALI is a diagnosis of exclusion and that it may co-occur with other respiratory illnesses. Antimicrobials (including antivirals) should be given as warranted, they added.
Corticosteroids may be helpful in treating EVALI, but may worsen respiratory infections typically seen in outpatients, and so should be prescribed with caution in the outpatient setting, the CDC recommended.
Behavioral counseling, addiction treatment services, and Food and Drug Administration–approved cessation medications are recommended to help patients quit vaping or e-cigarette products, CDC said.
Health care providers should emphasize the importance of an annual flu shot for all patients 6 months of age or older, including those who use e-cigarette or vaping products, according to the agency.
“It is not known whether patients with EVALI are at higher risk for severe complications of influenza or other respiratory infections,” the report reads.
Blame it on vitamin E? THC? Other?
The report details how, as previously reported, vitamin E acetate was detected in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from 29 patients with EVALI. Although other chemicals could contribute to EVALI, that finding provided “direct evidence” of vitamin E acetate at the primary site of injury, according to CDC.
Most patients with EVALI, 83%, have reported using a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing e-cigarette or vaping product, according to CDC, while 61% reported using a nicotine-containing product.
Based on that, CDC recommended that people avoid using THC-containing products. However, the agency cautioned that the specific cause or causes of EVALI remain to be elucidated.
“The only way for persons to assure that they are not at risk is to consider refraining from use of all e-cigarette, or vaping, products while this investigation continues,” CDC said in the report.
The need for this additional clinical guidance was assessed in anticipation of the seasonal uptick in influenza and other respiratory infections, according to the CDC, which said the recommendations were based in part on individual clinical perspectives from nine national experts who participated in a previously published clinical guidance on managing patients with EVALI.
SOURCES: Jatlaoui TC et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2019 Nov 19. doi. 10.15585/mmwr.mm6846e2; Chatham-Stephens K et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2019 Nov 19. doi. 10.15585/mmwr.mm6846e1.
FROM MMWR
Pulmonary embolism treatment teams adopted widely for complex disease
NEW YORK – Seven years after the formation of the first pulmonary embolism response team (PERT), more than 100 institutions have joined the PERT Consortium, which was created to guide care and research for this thrombotic complication, according to a status report at a symposium on vascular and endovascular issues sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
“Why are PERTs needed? Pulmonary embolism patients are like snowflakes. No two are the same,” explained Richard Channick, MD, director of the pulmonary vascular disease program, University of California, Los Angeles.
Patient variability is an issue because algorithms for pulmonary embolism (PE) often differ at the point of diagnosis, such as the emergency department or intensive are unit, according to Dr. Channick, who was present when the first PERT was created in 2012 at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. In addition, treatment algorithms can seem complex at a time when patients are deteriorating quickly.
“The treatment algorithms always say consider this or consider that, and then you get a recommendation with a 2B grade of evidence. So what do you do?” Dr. Channick asked, “This has really been crying for an organized approach.”
PERTs were created to fill this need. In most centers, PERTs are organized to respond to a diagnosis of PE wherever it occurs in the hospital. The goal is rapid activation of a team of experts who can reach a single consensus recommendation.
At MGH and UCLA, a similar relatively simple scheme has been created to guide physicians on how to activate the PERT and which situations make this appropriate.
“A big part of the PERT value has been our ability to conduct a real-time virtual consultation where we leverage online technology to look at images together in order to agree on a strategy,” Dr. Channick explained.
Although frequently asked what specialists are needed for an effective PERT, Dr. Channick said it depends on institutional structures, the types of specialists available, and, in some cases, the specific characteristics of the patient. In many situations, a pulmonary vascular specialist and an interventional radiologist might be sufficient. In others, team members might include some combination of an interventional cardiologist, a cardiac surgeon, and a hematologist.
It is also appropriate to include clinicians likely to participate in care following acute treatment of the PE. “One of the most critical values to PERT is the ability to systematically follow patients” after the PE is treated, Dr. Channick said.
So far, there are no data to confirm patients managed with PERT achieve better outcomes than those who are not. Reductions in mortality, length of stay, and costs are reasonably anticipated and might eventually be demonstrated, but Dr. Channick said that PERTs already have value.
“I think the efficiency of care is important,”he said. He called PERT a “one-stop shopping” approach to ensuring that multiple strategies are considered systematically.
There are many anecdotal examples of the benefits of shared decision-making for PE treatment. In one, a pulmonary specialist in a PERT team narrowly averted a planned thrombolysis in a patient diagnosed with PE who was actually found to have severe pulmonary fibrosis, according to Dr. Channick.
Not least important, the shared decision-making of a PERT could relieve the burden of difficult choices in complex situations. Bad outcomes in PE can be unavoidable even with optimal therapy.
“To me personally, a very important benefit of being part of a PERT is the feeling that we are all in it together,” Dr. Channick said. “Patients can go from being pretty stable to being dead very quickly.”
The PERT Consortium has sponsored an annual meeting on PE since 2015. It also maintains an ongoing registry for PE data from member institutions. These data are expected to have increasing value for comparing the impact of patient characteristics, treatment strategies, and other variables on outcomes.
For clinicians who are uncertain whether the PE incidence at their institution justifies a PERT, Dr. Channick had some advice. “If you build it, they will clot,” he said, meaning that due to the frequency of PE, a PERT will generally have plenty of work once created.
SOURCE: VEITHSYMPOSIUM
NEW YORK – Seven years after the formation of the first pulmonary embolism response team (PERT), more than 100 institutions have joined the PERT Consortium, which was created to guide care and research for this thrombotic complication, according to a status report at a symposium on vascular and endovascular issues sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
“Why are PERTs needed? Pulmonary embolism patients are like snowflakes. No two are the same,” explained Richard Channick, MD, director of the pulmonary vascular disease program, University of California, Los Angeles.
Patient variability is an issue because algorithms for pulmonary embolism (PE) often differ at the point of diagnosis, such as the emergency department or intensive are unit, according to Dr. Channick, who was present when the first PERT was created in 2012 at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. In addition, treatment algorithms can seem complex at a time when patients are deteriorating quickly.
“The treatment algorithms always say consider this or consider that, and then you get a recommendation with a 2B grade of evidence. So what do you do?” Dr. Channick asked, “This has really been crying for an organized approach.”
PERTs were created to fill this need. In most centers, PERTs are organized to respond to a diagnosis of PE wherever it occurs in the hospital. The goal is rapid activation of a team of experts who can reach a single consensus recommendation.
At MGH and UCLA, a similar relatively simple scheme has been created to guide physicians on how to activate the PERT and which situations make this appropriate.
“A big part of the PERT value has been our ability to conduct a real-time virtual consultation where we leverage online technology to look at images together in order to agree on a strategy,” Dr. Channick explained.
Although frequently asked what specialists are needed for an effective PERT, Dr. Channick said it depends on institutional structures, the types of specialists available, and, in some cases, the specific characteristics of the patient. In many situations, a pulmonary vascular specialist and an interventional radiologist might be sufficient. In others, team members might include some combination of an interventional cardiologist, a cardiac surgeon, and a hematologist.
It is also appropriate to include clinicians likely to participate in care following acute treatment of the PE. “One of the most critical values to PERT is the ability to systematically follow patients” after the PE is treated, Dr. Channick said.
So far, there are no data to confirm patients managed with PERT achieve better outcomes than those who are not. Reductions in mortality, length of stay, and costs are reasonably anticipated and might eventually be demonstrated, but Dr. Channick said that PERTs already have value.
“I think the efficiency of care is important,”he said. He called PERT a “one-stop shopping” approach to ensuring that multiple strategies are considered systematically.
There are many anecdotal examples of the benefits of shared decision-making for PE treatment. In one, a pulmonary specialist in a PERT team narrowly averted a planned thrombolysis in a patient diagnosed with PE who was actually found to have severe pulmonary fibrosis, according to Dr. Channick.
Not least important, the shared decision-making of a PERT could relieve the burden of difficult choices in complex situations. Bad outcomes in PE can be unavoidable even with optimal therapy.
“To me personally, a very important benefit of being part of a PERT is the feeling that we are all in it together,” Dr. Channick said. “Patients can go from being pretty stable to being dead very quickly.”
The PERT Consortium has sponsored an annual meeting on PE since 2015. It also maintains an ongoing registry for PE data from member institutions. These data are expected to have increasing value for comparing the impact of patient characteristics, treatment strategies, and other variables on outcomes.
For clinicians who are uncertain whether the PE incidence at their institution justifies a PERT, Dr. Channick had some advice. “If you build it, they will clot,” he said, meaning that due to the frequency of PE, a PERT will generally have plenty of work once created.
SOURCE: VEITHSYMPOSIUM
NEW YORK – Seven years after the formation of the first pulmonary embolism response team (PERT), more than 100 institutions have joined the PERT Consortium, which was created to guide care and research for this thrombotic complication, according to a status report at a symposium on vascular and endovascular issues sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
“Why are PERTs needed? Pulmonary embolism patients are like snowflakes. No two are the same,” explained Richard Channick, MD, director of the pulmonary vascular disease program, University of California, Los Angeles.
Patient variability is an issue because algorithms for pulmonary embolism (PE) often differ at the point of diagnosis, such as the emergency department or intensive are unit, according to Dr. Channick, who was present when the first PERT was created in 2012 at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. In addition, treatment algorithms can seem complex at a time when patients are deteriorating quickly.
“The treatment algorithms always say consider this or consider that, and then you get a recommendation with a 2B grade of evidence. So what do you do?” Dr. Channick asked, “This has really been crying for an organized approach.”
PERTs were created to fill this need. In most centers, PERTs are organized to respond to a diagnosis of PE wherever it occurs in the hospital. The goal is rapid activation of a team of experts who can reach a single consensus recommendation.
At MGH and UCLA, a similar relatively simple scheme has been created to guide physicians on how to activate the PERT and which situations make this appropriate.
“A big part of the PERT value has been our ability to conduct a real-time virtual consultation where we leverage online technology to look at images together in order to agree on a strategy,” Dr. Channick explained.
Although frequently asked what specialists are needed for an effective PERT, Dr. Channick said it depends on institutional structures, the types of specialists available, and, in some cases, the specific characteristics of the patient. In many situations, a pulmonary vascular specialist and an interventional radiologist might be sufficient. In others, team members might include some combination of an interventional cardiologist, a cardiac surgeon, and a hematologist.
It is also appropriate to include clinicians likely to participate in care following acute treatment of the PE. “One of the most critical values to PERT is the ability to systematically follow patients” after the PE is treated, Dr. Channick said.
So far, there are no data to confirm patients managed with PERT achieve better outcomes than those who are not. Reductions in mortality, length of stay, and costs are reasonably anticipated and might eventually be demonstrated, but Dr. Channick said that PERTs already have value.
“I think the efficiency of care is important,”he said. He called PERT a “one-stop shopping” approach to ensuring that multiple strategies are considered systematically.
There are many anecdotal examples of the benefits of shared decision-making for PE treatment. In one, a pulmonary specialist in a PERT team narrowly averted a planned thrombolysis in a patient diagnosed with PE who was actually found to have severe pulmonary fibrosis, according to Dr. Channick.
Not least important, the shared decision-making of a PERT could relieve the burden of difficult choices in complex situations. Bad outcomes in PE can be unavoidable even with optimal therapy.
“To me personally, a very important benefit of being part of a PERT is the feeling that we are all in it together,” Dr. Channick said. “Patients can go from being pretty stable to being dead very quickly.”
The PERT Consortium has sponsored an annual meeting on PE since 2015. It also maintains an ongoing registry for PE data from member institutions. These data are expected to have increasing value for comparing the impact of patient characteristics, treatment strategies, and other variables on outcomes.
For clinicians who are uncertain whether the PE incidence at their institution justifies a PERT, Dr. Channick had some advice. “If you build it, they will clot,” he said, meaning that due to the frequency of PE, a PERT will generally have plenty of work once created.
SOURCE: VEITHSYMPOSIUM
REPORTING FROM THE VEITHSYMPOSIUM
Part 2: The ABCs of managing COPD exacerbations
Do you know the ABCs of medication management for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations?
In the second episode of a two-part interview, Robert A. Wise, MD, outlines the evidence and best practices for treating patients with corticosteroids, and he discusses potential new approaches to preventing exacerbations.
Dr. Wise is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He is the coauthor of a review of medication regimens to manage COPD exacerbations (Respir Care. 2018 Jun;63[6]:773-82).
Do you know the ABCs of medication management for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations?
In the second episode of a two-part interview, Robert A. Wise, MD, outlines the evidence and best practices for treating patients with corticosteroids, and he discusses potential new approaches to preventing exacerbations.
Dr. Wise is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He is the coauthor of a review of medication regimens to manage COPD exacerbations (Respir Care. 2018 Jun;63[6]:773-82).
Do you know the ABCs of medication management for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations?
In the second episode of a two-part interview, Robert A. Wise, MD, outlines the evidence and best practices for treating patients with corticosteroids, and he discusses potential new approaches to preventing exacerbations.
Dr. Wise is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He is the coauthor of a review of medication regimens to manage COPD exacerbations (Respir Care. 2018 Jun;63[6]:773-82).
Part 1: The ABCs of managing COPD exacerbations
Do you know the ABCs of medication management for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations?
Understanding how to effectively use the ABCs – antibiotics, bronchodilators, and corticosteroids – in COPD exacerbations can reduce morbidity and improve patient outcomes.
In the first episode of a two-part interview, Robert A. Wise, MD, outlines the evidence and best practices for treating patients with antibiotics and bronchodilators.
Dr. Wise is a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He is the coauthor of a review of medication regimens to manage COPD exacerbations (Respir Care. 2018 Jun;63[6]:773-82).
Do you know the ABCs of medication management for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations?
Understanding how to effectively use the ABCs – antibiotics, bronchodilators, and corticosteroids – in COPD exacerbations can reduce morbidity and improve patient outcomes.
In the first episode of a two-part interview, Robert A. Wise, MD, outlines the evidence and best practices for treating patients with antibiotics and bronchodilators.
Dr. Wise is a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He is the coauthor of a review of medication regimens to manage COPD exacerbations (Respir Care. 2018 Jun;63[6]:773-82).
Do you know the ABCs of medication management for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations?
Understanding how to effectively use the ABCs – antibiotics, bronchodilators, and corticosteroids – in COPD exacerbations can reduce morbidity and improve patient outcomes.
In the first episode of a two-part interview, Robert A. Wise, MD, outlines the evidence and best practices for treating patients with antibiotics and bronchodilators.
Dr. Wise is a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He is the coauthor of a review of medication regimens to manage COPD exacerbations (Respir Care. 2018 Jun;63[6]:773-82).
FDA noncommittal on e-cigarette action
on when the agency would act and what actions it was planning on taking.
“I was actually shocked that, in a hearing that is focused in part on the youth vaping epidemic [that] your testimony, both written and oral here, made no mention of the administration’s Sept. 11 announcement that it intended to clear the market of all unauthorized non–tobacco-flavored vaping products,” said Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, during a Nov. 13 hearing to Mitchell Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “Why is that not included in your testimony?”
Director Zeller would only offer a vague response, testifying that the agency is “committed to doing everything that we can to prevent kids from using any tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, and that we are continuing to develop a policy approach that aligns with that concern.”
When Sen. Murray pressed further, Director Zeller deflected: “I think that any questions that the committee has about the announcement that the White House and anything related to what remains a deliberative process on policy is best referred to the White House itself.”
He would not even offer any perspective on when the FDA might take actual regulatory action when asked about it by Sen. Murray.
“I can’t give you a specific timeline, Senator, other than to say that the deliberative process continues,” Director Zeller responded, telling her that “I really would refer you and the committee to the White House to ask specific questions about where we are.”
The hearing, called to examine the response to lung illnesses and rising youth e-cigarette usage, shed no new light on the issue. And while Director Zeller outlined the numerous educational campaigns being aimed at convincing youth to not use e-cigarettes, Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) questioned whether the FDA was doing an adequate job.
The FDA, from late 2017 to the end of 2020, “will wind up investing about $150 million in a massive, multimedia public education campaign to get the word out to kids” on the dangers of vaping, Director Zeller said, adding that the agency is “aggressively enforcing” youth access restrictions in targeting sellers of e-cigarette products to minors.
“Well, obviously we are not making much progress with youth use ... if one in four of American high schoolers, according to your statistics, are using e-cigarettes,” Sen. Alexander said.
While most on the committee were focused on the rising numbers of youth vaping and e-cigarette usage, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) cautioned that any regulatory action, particularly a ban on all flavored e-cigarette products, would adversely affect adults, particularly those who are turning to e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool.
His solution, noting that it is already illegal for kids to be purchasing vaping and e-cigarette products, was to increase the penalties for those found selling to minors, adding that “most adults are using the flavors as well” and it could lead them back to combustible tobacco products if they are prevented from accessing flavored e-cigarettes.
on when the agency would act and what actions it was planning on taking.
“I was actually shocked that, in a hearing that is focused in part on the youth vaping epidemic [that] your testimony, both written and oral here, made no mention of the administration’s Sept. 11 announcement that it intended to clear the market of all unauthorized non–tobacco-flavored vaping products,” said Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, during a Nov. 13 hearing to Mitchell Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “Why is that not included in your testimony?”
Director Zeller would only offer a vague response, testifying that the agency is “committed to doing everything that we can to prevent kids from using any tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, and that we are continuing to develop a policy approach that aligns with that concern.”
When Sen. Murray pressed further, Director Zeller deflected: “I think that any questions that the committee has about the announcement that the White House and anything related to what remains a deliberative process on policy is best referred to the White House itself.”
He would not even offer any perspective on when the FDA might take actual regulatory action when asked about it by Sen. Murray.
“I can’t give you a specific timeline, Senator, other than to say that the deliberative process continues,” Director Zeller responded, telling her that “I really would refer you and the committee to the White House to ask specific questions about where we are.”
The hearing, called to examine the response to lung illnesses and rising youth e-cigarette usage, shed no new light on the issue. And while Director Zeller outlined the numerous educational campaigns being aimed at convincing youth to not use e-cigarettes, Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) questioned whether the FDA was doing an adequate job.
The FDA, from late 2017 to the end of 2020, “will wind up investing about $150 million in a massive, multimedia public education campaign to get the word out to kids” on the dangers of vaping, Director Zeller said, adding that the agency is “aggressively enforcing” youth access restrictions in targeting sellers of e-cigarette products to minors.
“Well, obviously we are not making much progress with youth use ... if one in four of American high schoolers, according to your statistics, are using e-cigarettes,” Sen. Alexander said.
While most on the committee were focused on the rising numbers of youth vaping and e-cigarette usage, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) cautioned that any regulatory action, particularly a ban on all flavored e-cigarette products, would adversely affect adults, particularly those who are turning to e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool.
His solution, noting that it is already illegal for kids to be purchasing vaping and e-cigarette products, was to increase the penalties for those found selling to minors, adding that “most adults are using the flavors as well” and it could lead them back to combustible tobacco products if they are prevented from accessing flavored e-cigarettes.
on when the agency would act and what actions it was planning on taking.
“I was actually shocked that, in a hearing that is focused in part on the youth vaping epidemic [that] your testimony, both written and oral here, made no mention of the administration’s Sept. 11 announcement that it intended to clear the market of all unauthorized non–tobacco-flavored vaping products,” said Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, during a Nov. 13 hearing to Mitchell Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “Why is that not included in your testimony?”
Director Zeller would only offer a vague response, testifying that the agency is “committed to doing everything that we can to prevent kids from using any tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, and that we are continuing to develop a policy approach that aligns with that concern.”
When Sen. Murray pressed further, Director Zeller deflected: “I think that any questions that the committee has about the announcement that the White House and anything related to what remains a deliberative process on policy is best referred to the White House itself.”
He would not even offer any perspective on when the FDA might take actual regulatory action when asked about it by Sen. Murray.
“I can’t give you a specific timeline, Senator, other than to say that the deliberative process continues,” Director Zeller responded, telling her that “I really would refer you and the committee to the White House to ask specific questions about where we are.”
The hearing, called to examine the response to lung illnesses and rising youth e-cigarette usage, shed no new light on the issue. And while Director Zeller outlined the numerous educational campaigns being aimed at convincing youth to not use e-cigarettes, Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) questioned whether the FDA was doing an adequate job.
The FDA, from late 2017 to the end of 2020, “will wind up investing about $150 million in a massive, multimedia public education campaign to get the word out to kids” on the dangers of vaping, Director Zeller said, adding that the agency is “aggressively enforcing” youth access restrictions in targeting sellers of e-cigarette products to minors.
“Well, obviously we are not making much progress with youth use ... if one in four of American high schoolers, according to your statistics, are using e-cigarettes,” Sen. Alexander said.
While most on the committee were focused on the rising numbers of youth vaping and e-cigarette usage, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) cautioned that any regulatory action, particularly a ban on all flavored e-cigarette products, would adversely affect adults, particularly those who are turning to e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool.
His solution, noting that it is already illegal for kids to be purchasing vaping and e-cigarette products, was to increase the penalties for those found selling to minors, adding that “most adults are using the flavors as well” and it could lead them back to combustible tobacco products if they are prevented from accessing flavored e-cigarettes.
REPORTING FROM A SENATE HELP COMMITTEE HEARING
Vaping-linked lung injury: 2,172 cases, 42 deaths
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has from 49 states (all except Alaska), the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands). Forty-two deaths have been confirmed in 24 states and the District of Columbia, the CDC reported.
Laboratory test results of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from 29 patients submitted to CDC from 10 states found vitamin E acetate in all of the samples. This is the first time a chemical of concern has been found in biologic samples from patients with EVALI. These findings provide direct evidence of vitamin E acetate at the primary site of injury within the lungs.
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was identified in 82% of the samples and nicotine was identified in 62% of the samples. Testing continues for other chemicals including plant oils, petroleum distillates like mineral oil, medium-chain triglycerides oil, and terpenes, which are compounds commonly found in or added to THC products. None of these chemicals has been detected in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples tested.
For more information and resources visit For the Public, For Healthcare Providers, and For State and Local Health Departments pages, as well as the CDC’s Publications and Resources page.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has from 49 states (all except Alaska), the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands). Forty-two deaths have been confirmed in 24 states and the District of Columbia, the CDC reported.
Laboratory test results of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from 29 patients submitted to CDC from 10 states found vitamin E acetate in all of the samples. This is the first time a chemical of concern has been found in biologic samples from patients with EVALI. These findings provide direct evidence of vitamin E acetate at the primary site of injury within the lungs.
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was identified in 82% of the samples and nicotine was identified in 62% of the samples. Testing continues for other chemicals including plant oils, petroleum distillates like mineral oil, medium-chain triglycerides oil, and terpenes, which are compounds commonly found in or added to THC products. None of these chemicals has been detected in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples tested.
For more information and resources visit For the Public, For Healthcare Providers, and For State and Local Health Departments pages, as well as the CDC’s Publications and Resources page.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has from 49 states (all except Alaska), the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands). Forty-two deaths have been confirmed in 24 states and the District of Columbia, the CDC reported.
Laboratory test results of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from 29 patients submitted to CDC from 10 states found vitamin E acetate in all of the samples. This is the first time a chemical of concern has been found in biologic samples from patients with EVALI. These findings provide direct evidence of vitamin E acetate at the primary site of injury within the lungs.
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was identified in 82% of the samples and nicotine was identified in 62% of the samples. Testing continues for other chemicals including plant oils, petroleum distillates like mineral oil, medium-chain triglycerides oil, and terpenes, which are compounds commonly found in or added to THC products. None of these chemicals has been detected in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples tested.
For more information and resources visit For the Public, For Healthcare Providers, and For State and Local Health Departments pages, as well as the CDC’s Publications and Resources page.
REPORTING FROM CDC
Teen survives double lung transplant after vaping injury
A Michigan teenager, described as an athlete and otherwise healthy, has survived a double lung transplant following lung damage attributed to vaping.
“On the 15th of October, the transplant team performed what we believe is the first double lung transplant done in the nation for a vaping-injury victim, who is a teenager,” Hassan Nemeh, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon with the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, said during a Nov. 12, 2019, press conference to discuss the surgery.
“What I saw in his lungs is nothing that I have ever seen before and I have been doing lung transplants for 20 years,” Dr. Nemeh said. “There was an enormous amount of inflammation and scarring, in addition to multiple spots of dead tissue. The lung itself was so firm and scarred, we had to deliver it out of the chest. This is an evil that I haven’t faced before.”
He noted that the patient, now 17 years old but 16 when the surgical procedure occurred, is doing well in his recovery, and although the patient and the family are not yet ready to be identified, the health system made the decision to tell the story of the surgery as a cautionary tale.
“The reason we wanted to bring this case to public attention is because of the epidemic of e-cigarettes and vaping-induced lung injury that we are witnessing in the country,” including more than 2,000 cases of injury and 39 deaths that have been confirmed from lung failure related to e-cigarettes and vaping that have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said.
“Our teenage patient would have faced certain death if it weren’t for the lung transplant happening,” Dr. Nemeh said, adding that, while vaping and e-cigarettes are being presented as a benign habit, there are potentially very deadly consequences that Henry Ford Hospital System wanted to highlight. He described the patient’s lungs as essentially being nonfunctional with very little air being able to be passed into them, with the destruction to his native lung from pneumonia and dead tissue almost completely covering his lungs.
This story began with a morning call on Oct. 1 from the Children’s Hospital of Michigan alerting the Henry Ford Health System that they had a patient on life support because of complete lung failure who was not showing signs of healing and asking if the Henry Ford Health System could possibly handle a lung transplant for this patient.
Dr. Nemeh said that the patient was on a nontransportable extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine at Children’s. Dr. Nemeh and the team at Henry Ford determined that the situation for the patient was so dire that they put a portable ECMO machine into the trunk of Dr. Nemeh’s car and delivered it to Children’s in order to facilitate the transfer of the patient for transplantation surgery.
Victor Coba, MD, a critical care specialist and medical director of the ECMO program at Henry Ford, said: “We evaluated the irreversible lung damage that had occurred associated with vaping. Working closely with the lung transplant team and noting that his lungs would not recover, we worked to get him on the lung transplant list.”
Lisa Allenspach, MD, pulmonologist and medical director of the lung transplant program at Henry Ford, reiterated the need for caution when it comes to vaping and e-cigarette use.
“Vaping-related injuries are all too common these days and, actually, our adolescents are faced with a crisis,” she said. “I believe we are just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg. Making sure that our teens understand the danger of vaping is of paramount importance.”
She did not disclose specific details about the teen’s use of vaping/e-cigarette products, so it is unknown whether the injury was caused by standard off-the-shelf products or if it was related to vaping cartridges containing tetrahydrocannabinol.
“We are here today to beg the public to pay special attention to the steps that were taken in this case,” said Nicholas Yeldo, MD, anesthesiology and critical care specialist with Henry Ford. “Without the heroic measures that were taken in this case, this young patient would have died. There is no doubt about it. ... This was not just an unlucky one. This is happening way, way too much.”
Dr. Allenspach was positive that the young patient could live a long life, noting that there are those who have received lung transplants have survived for 15-20 years and second transplants are possible.
A Michigan teenager, described as an athlete and otherwise healthy, has survived a double lung transplant following lung damage attributed to vaping.
“On the 15th of October, the transplant team performed what we believe is the first double lung transplant done in the nation for a vaping-injury victim, who is a teenager,” Hassan Nemeh, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon with the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, said during a Nov. 12, 2019, press conference to discuss the surgery.
“What I saw in his lungs is nothing that I have ever seen before and I have been doing lung transplants for 20 years,” Dr. Nemeh said. “There was an enormous amount of inflammation and scarring, in addition to multiple spots of dead tissue. The lung itself was so firm and scarred, we had to deliver it out of the chest. This is an evil that I haven’t faced before.”
He noted that the patient, now 17 years old but 16 when the surgical procedure occurred, is doing well in his recovery, and although the patient and the family are not yet ready to be identified, the health system made the decision to tell the story of the surgery as a cautionary tale.
“The reason we wanted to bring this case to public attention is because of the epidemic of e-cigarettes and vaping-induced lung injury that we are witnessing in the country,” including more than 2,000 cases of injury and 39 deaths that have been confirmed from lung failure related to e-cigarettes and vaping that have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said.
“Our teenage patient would have faced certain death if it weren’t for the lung transplant happening,” Dr. Nemeh said, adding that, while vaping and e-cigarettes are being presented as a benign habit, there are potentially very deadly consequences that Henry Ford Hospital System wanted to highlight. He described the patient’s lungs as essentially being nonfunctional with very little air being able to be passed into them, with the destruction to his native lung from pneumonia and dead tissue almost completely covering his lungs.
This story began with a morning call on Oct. 1 from the Children’s Hospital of Michigan alerting the Henry Ford Health System that they had a patient on life support because of complete lung failure who was not showing signs of healing and asking if the Henry Ford Health System could possibly handle a lung transplant for this patient.
Dr. Nemeh said that the patient was on a nontransportable extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine at Children’s. Dr. Nemeh and the team at Henry Ford determined that the situation for the patient was so dire that they put a portable ECMO machine into the trunk of Dr. Nemeh’s car and delivered it to Children’s in order to facilitate the transfer of the patient for transplantation surgery.
Victor Coba, MD, a critical care specialist and medical director of the ECMO program at Henry Ford, said: “We evaluated the irreversible lung damage that had occurred associated with vaping. Working closely with the lung transplant team and noting that his lungs would not recover, we worked to get him on the lung transplant list.”
Lisa Allenspach, MD, pulmonologist and medical director of the lung transplant program at Henry Ford, reiterated the need for caution when it comes to vaping and e-cigarette use.
“Vaping-related injuries are all too common these days and, actually, our adolescents are faced with a crisis,” she said. “I believe we are just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg. Making sure that our teens understand the danger of vaping is of paramount importance.”
She did not disclose specific details about the teen’s use of vaping/e-cigarette products, so it is unknown whether the injury was caused by standard off-the-shelf products or if it was related to vaping cartridges containing tetrahydrocannabinol.
“We are here today to beg the public to pay special attention to the steps that were taken in this case,” said Nicholas Yeldo, MD, anesthesiology and critical care specialist with Henry Ford. “Without the heroic measures that were taken in this case, this young patient would have died. There is no doubt about it. ... This was not just an unlucky one. This is happening way, way too much.”
Dr. Allenspach was positive that the young patient could live a long life, noting that there are those who have received lung transplants have survived for 15-20 years and second transplants are possible.
A Michigan teenager, described as an athlete and otherwise healthy, has survived a double lung transplant following lung damage attributed to vaping.
“On the 15th of October, the transplant team performed what we believe is the first double lung transplant done in the nation for a vaping-injury victim, who is a teenager,” Hassan Nemeh, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon with the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, said during a Nov. 12, 2019, press conference to discuss the surgery.
“What I saw in his lungs is nothing that I have ever seen before and I have been doing lung transplants for 20 years,” Dr. Nemeh said. “There was an enormous amount of inflammation and scarring, in addition to multiple spots of dead tissue. The lung itself was so firm and scarred, we had to deliver it out of the chest. This is an evil that I haven’t faced before.”
He noted that the patient, now 17 years old but 16 when the surgical procedure occurred, is doing well in his recovery, and although the patient and the family are not yet ready to be identified, the health system made the decision to tell the story of the surgery as a cautionary tale.
“The reason we wanted to bring this case to public attention is because of the epidemic of e-cigarettes and vaping-induced lung injury that we are witnessing in the country,” including more than 2,000 cases of injury and 39 deaths that have been confirmed from lung failure related to e-cigarettes and vaping that have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said.
“Our teenage patient would have faced certain death if it weren’t for the lung transplant happening,” Dr. Nemeh said, adding that, while vaping and e-cigarettes are being presented as a benign habit, there are potentially very deadly consequences that Henry Ford Hospital System wanted to highlight. He described the patient’s lungs as essentially being nonfunctional with very little air being able to be passed into them, with the destruction to his native lung from pneumonia and dead tissue almost completely covering his lungs.
This story began with a morning call on Oct. 1 from the Children’s Hospital of Michigan alerting the Henry Ford Health System that they had a patient on life support because of complete lung failure who was not showing signs of healing and asking if the Henry Ford Health System could possibly handle a lung transplant for this patient.
Dr. Nemeh said that the patient was on a nontransportable extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine at Children’s. Dr. Nemeh and the team at Henry Ford determined that the situation for the patient was so dire that they put a portable ECMO machine into the trunk of Dr. Nemeh’s car and delivered it to Children’s in order to facilitate the transfer of the patient for transplantation surgery.
Victor Coba, MD, a critical care specialist and medical director of the ECMO program at Henry Ford, said: “We evaluated the irreversible lung damage that had occurred associated with vaping. Working closely with the lung transplant team and noting that his lungs would not recover, we worked to get him on the lung transplant list.”
Lisa Allenspach, MD, pulmonologist and medical director of the lung transplant program at Henry Ford, reiterated the need for caution when it comes to vaping and e-cigarette use.
“Vaping-related injuries are all too common these days and, actually, our adolescents are faced with a crisis,” she said. “I believe we are just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg. Making sure that our teens understand the danger of vaping is of paramount importance.”
She did not disclose specific details about the teen’s use of vaping/e-cigarette products, so it is unknown whether the injury was caused by standard off-the-shelf products or if it was related to vaping cartridges containing tetrahydrocannabinol.
“We are here today to beg the public to pay special attention to the steps that were taken in this case,” said Nicholas Yeldo, MD, anesthesiology and critical care specialist with Henry Ford. “Without the heroic measures that were taken in this case, this young patient would have died. There is no doubt about it. ... This was not just an unlucky one. This is happening way, way too much.”
Dr. Allenspach was positive that the young patient could live a long life, noting that there are those who have received lung transplants have survived for 15-20 years and second transplants are possible.
Worse air quality linked to premature deaths
, according to a working paper issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The increase in air pollution, defined as the amount of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air, was associated with an additional 9,700 premature deaths from 2016 to 2018, representing damages totaling $89 billion, wrote Karen Clay and Nicholas C. Miller of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. The increase may reflect in part the impact of the a major wildfire that occurred in the fall of 2018.
“These increases are worrisome, because previous studies have shown that PM2.5 increases premature mortality risk,” the researchers wrote. To assess the changes in air quality, they reviewed data from the Air Quality System (AQS) database including total PM2.5 and three PM2.5 species: ammonium nitrate, sulfate, and elemental carbon.
To examine the impact of pollution on public health, the researchers used data from the damage function approach used in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Clean Air Act, the Regulatory Impact Analysis for PM2.5, and multiple academic studies.
The number of premature deaths linked to PM2.5 increased by approximately 4,900 between 2016 and 2017 and by 9,700 from 2016 to 2018 in U.S. counties with monitors.
Elderly individuals are especially vulnerable to particulate matter exposure and experience approximately 80% of the burden of disease related to pollution, the researchers said.
“While some deaths among the elderly are shifted by days or weeks, recent research suggests that the burden is ‘concentrated among the elderly with 5-10 years of remaining life expectancy, followed by those with 2-5 years remaining, because these groups represent a large fraction of the Medicare population and are also vulnerable to acute particulate matter exposure,’” they said.
Overall, pollution levels across the United States stopped declining in 2016. When broken down by four Census regions, no change in PM2.5 levels occurred in the Northeast and South between 2016 and 2018; the Midwest and West showed increases in PM2.5 of 9.3% and 11.5%, respectively.
The researchers suggested three possible factors affecting the increase in pollution: economic activity, wildfires, and air quality enforcement. They noted that increases in PM2.5 were especially high in California, and that California accounted for 43% of the increase in pollution-related premature deaths nationwide between 2016 and 2018. When the researchers examined PM2.5 month by month, “November 2018 had an outsized effect on our mortality calculations,” largely because the devastating Camp Fire occurred in California at that time, they said.
With regard to the impact of economic activity on pollution, the researchers reviewed data from the National Highway Administration and Energy Information Administration that showed increased use of natural gas and increased vehicle travel as contributing to higher levels of nitrate and elemental carbon in the air.
Finally, the researchers reported that enforcement of the Clean Air Act appeared to have declined since 2013, and this decline, although it might reflect increased compliance in some areas “is concerning in light of the increases in air pollution in both attainment and nonattainment counties after 2016,” they said.
The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose.
SOURCE: Clay K, Miller NZ. NBER 2019. Working Paper 26381. doi: 10.3386/w26381.
, according to a working paper issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The increase in air pollution, defined as the amount of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air, was associated with an additional 9,700 premature deaths from 2016 to 2018, representing damages totaling $89 billion, wrote Karen Clay and Nicholas C. Miller of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. The increase may reflect in part the impact of the a major wildfire that occurred in the fall of 2018.
“These increases are worrisome, because previous studies have shown that PM2.5 increases premature mortality risk,” the researchers wrote. To assess the changes in air quality, they reviewed data from the Air Quality System (AQS) database including total PM2.5 and three PM2.5 species: ammonium nitrate, sulfate, and elemental carbon.
To examine the impact of pollution on public health, the researchers used data from the damage function approach used in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Clean Air Act, the Regulatory Impact Analysis for PM2.5, and multiple academic studies.
The number of premature deaths linked to PM2.5 increased by approximately 4,900 between 2016 and 2017 and by 9,700 from 2016 to 2018 in U.S. counties with monitors.
Elderly individuals are especially vulnerable to particulate matter exposure and experience approximately 80% of the burden of disease related to pollution, the researchers said.
“While some deaths among the elderly are shifted by days or weeks, recent research suggests that the burden is ‘concentrated among the elderly with 5-10 years of remaining life expectancy, followed by those with 2-5 years remaining, because these groups represent a large fraction of the Medicare population and are also vulnerable to acute particulate matter exposure,’” they said.
Overall, pollution levels across the United States stopped declining in 2016. When broken down by four Census regions, no change in PM2.5 levels occurred in the Northeast and South between 2016 and 2018; the Midwest and West showed increases in PM2.5 of 9.3% and 11.5%, respectively.
The researchers suggested three possible factors affecting the increase in pollution: economic activity, wildfires, and air quality enforcement. They noted that increases in PM2.5 were especially high in California, and that California accounted for 43% of the increase in pollution-related premature deaths nationwide between 2016 and 2018. When the researchers examined PM2.5 month by month, “November 2018 had an outsized effect on our mortality calculations,” largely because the devastating Camp Fire occurred in California at that time, they said.
With regard to the impact of economic activity on pollution, the researchers reviewed data from the National Highway Administration and Energy Information Administration that showed increased use of natural gas and increased vehicle travel as contributing to higher levels of nitrate and elemental carbon in the air.
Finally, the researchers reported that enforcement of the Clean Air Act appeared to have declined since 2013, and this decline, although it might reflect increased compliance in some areas “is concerning in light of the increases in air pollution in both attainment and nonattainment counties after 2016,” they said.
The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose.
SOURCE: Clay K, Miller NZ. NBER 2019. Working Paper 26381. doi: 10.3386/w26381.
, according to a working paper issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The increase in air pollution, defined as the amount of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air, was associated with an additional 9,700 premature deaths from 2016 to 2018, representing damages totaling $89 billion, wrote Karen Clay and Nicholas C. Miller of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. The increase may reflect in part the impact of the a major wildfire that occurred in the fall of 2018.
“These increases are worrisome, because previous studies have shown that PM2.5 increases premature mortality risk,” the researchers wrote. To assess the changes in air quality, they reviewed data from the Air Quality System (AQS) database including total PM2.5 and three PM2.5 species: ammonium nitrate, sulfate, and elemental carbon.
To examine the impact of pollution on public health, the researchers used data from the damage function approach used in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Clean Air Act, the Regulatory Impact Analysis for PM2.5, and multiple academic studies.
The number of premature deaths linked to PM2.5 increased by approximately 4,900 between 2016 and 2017 and by 9,700 from 2016 to 2018 in U.S. counties with monitors.
Elderly individuals are especially vulnerable to particulate matter exposure and experience approximately 80% of the burden of disease related to pollution, the researchers said.
“While some deaths among the elderly are shifted by days or weeks, recent research suggests that the burden is ‘concentrated among the elderly with 5-10 years of remaining life expectancy, followed by those with 2-5 years remaining, because these groups represent a large fraction of the Medicare population and are also vulnerable to acute particulate matter exposure,’” they said.
Overall, pollution levels across the United States stopped declining in 2016. When broken down by four Census regions, no change in PM2.5 levels occurred in the Northeast and South between 2016 and 2018; the Midwest and West showed increases in PM2.5 of 9.3% and 11.5%, respectively.
The researchers suggested three possible factors affecting the increase in pollution: economic activity, wildfires, and air quality enforcement. They noted that increases in PM2.5 were especially high in California, and that California accounted for 43% of the increase in pollution-related premature deaths nationwide between 2016 and 2018. When the researchers examined PM2.5 month by month, “November 2018 had an outsized effect on our mortality calculations,” largely because the devastating Camp Fire occurred in California at that time, they said.
With regard to the impact of economic activity on pollution, the researchers reviewed data from the National Highway Administration and Energy Information Administration that showed increased use of natural gas and increased vehicle travel as contributing to higher levels of nitrate and elemental carbon in the air.
Finally, the researchers reported that enforcement of the Clean Air Act appeared to have declined since 2013, and this decline, although it might reflect increased compliance in some areas “is concerning in light of the increases in air pollution in both attainment and nonattainment counties after 2016,” they said.
The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose.
SOURCE: Clay K, Miller NZ. NBER 2019. Working Paper 26381. doi: 10.3386/w26381.
FROM AN NBER AIR QUALITY STUDY
Smokers with PE have higher rate of hospital readmission
NEW ORLEANS – , according to a retrospective study.
The rate of readmission was significantly higher among patients with tobacco dependence, and tobacco dependence was independently associated with an increased risk of readmission.
“This is the first study to quantify the increased rate of hospital readmission due to smoking,” said study investigator Kam Sing Ho, MD, of Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West, New York.
Dr. Ho and colleagues described this study and its results in a poster presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
The researchers analyzed data on 168,891 hospital admissions of adults with PE, 34.2% of whom had tobacco dependence. Patients with and without tobacco dependence were propensity matched for baseline characteristics (n = 24,262 in each group).
The 30-day readmission rate was significantly higher in patients with tobacco dependence than in those without it – 11.0% and 8.9%, respectively (P less than .001). The most common reason for readmission in both groups was PE.
Dr. Ho said the higher readmission rate among patients with tobacco dependence might be explained by the fact that smokers have a higher level of fibrinogen, which may affect blood viscosity and contribute to thrombus formation (Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2005;2[1]:71-7).
The investigators also found that tobacco dependence was an independent predictor of readmission (hazard ratio, 1.43; P less than .001). And the mortality rate was significantly higher after readmission than after index admission – 6.27% and 3.15%, respectively (P less than .001).
The increased risk of readmission and death among smokers highlights the importance of smoking cessation services. Dr. Ho cited previous research suggesting these services are underused in the hospital setting (BMJ Qual Improv Rep. 2014;3[1]:u204964.w2110).
“Given that smoking is a common phenomenon among patients admitted with pulmonary embolism, we suggest that more rigorous smoking cessation services are implemented prior to discharge for all active smokers,” Dr. Ho said. “[P]atients have the right to be informed on the benefits of smoking cessation and the autonomy to choose. Future research will focus on implementing inpatient smoking cessation at our hospital and its effect on local readmission rate, health resources utilization, and mortality.”
Dr. Ho has no relevant relationships to disclose.
SOURCE: Ho KS et al. CHEST 2019 October. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2019.08.1551.
NEW ORLEANS – , according to a retrospective study.
The rate of readmission was significantly higher among patients with tobacco dependence, and tobacco dependence was independently associated with an increased risk of readmission.
“This is the first study to quantify the increased rate of hospital readmission due to smoking,” said study investigator Kam Sing Ho, MD, of Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West, New York.
Dr. Ho and colleagues described this study and its results in a poster presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
The researchers analyzed data on 168,891 hospital admissions of adults with PE, 34.2% of whom had tobacco dependence. Patients with and without tobacco dependence were propensity matched for baseline characteristics (n = 24,262 in each group).
The 30-day readmission rate was significantly higher in patients with tobacco dependence than in those without it – 11.0% and 8.9%, respectively (P less than .001). The most common reason for readmission in both groups was PE.
Dr. Ho said the higher readmission rate among patients with tobacco dependence might be explained by the fact that smokers have a higher level of fibrinogen, which may affect blood viscosity and contribute to thrombus formation (Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2005;2[1]:71-7).
The investigators also found that tobacco dependence was an independent predictor of readmission (hazard ratio, 1.43; P less than .001). And the mortality rate was significantly higher after readmission than after index admission – 6.27% and 3.15%, respectively (P less than .001).
The increased risk of readmission and death among smokers highlights the importance of smoking cessation services. Dr. Ho cited previous research suggesting these services are underused in the hospital setting (BMJ Qual Improv Rep. 2014;3[1]:u204964.w2110).
“Given that smoking is a common phenomenon among patients admitted with pulmonary embolism, we suggest that more rigorous smoking cessation services are implemented prior to discharge for all active smokers,” Dr. Ho said. “[P]atients have the right to be informed on the benefits of smoking cessation and the autonomy to choose. Future research will focus on implementing inpatient smoking cessation at our hospital and its effect on local readmission rate, health resources utilization, and mortality.”
Dr. Ho has no relevant relationships to disclose.
SOURCE: Ho KS et al. CHEST 2019 October. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2019.08.1551.
NEW ORLEANS – , according to a retrospective study.
The rate of readmission was significantly higher among patients with tobacco dependence, and tobacco dependence was independently associated with an increased risk of readmission.
“This is the first study to quantify the increased rate of hospital readmission due to smoking,” said study investigator Kam Sing Ho, MD, of Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West, New York.
Dr. Ho and colleagues described this study and its results in a poster presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
The researchers analyzed data on 168,891 hospital admissions of adults with PE, 34.2% of whom had tobacco dependence. Patients with and without tobacco dependence were propensity matched for baseline characteristics (n = 24,262 in each group).
The 30-day readmission rate was significantly higher in patients with tobacco dependence than in those without it – 11.0% and 8.9%, respectively (P less than .001). The most common reason for readmission in both groups was PE.
Dr. Ho said the higher readmission rate among patients with tobacco dependence might be explained by the fact that smokers have a higher level of fibrinogen, which may affect blood viscosity and contribute to thrombus formation (Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2005;2[1]:71-7).
The investigators also found that tobacco dependence was an independent predictor of readmission (hazard ratio, 1.43; P less than .001). And the mortality rate was significantly higher after readmission than after index admission – 6.27% and 3.15%, respectively (P less than .001).
The increased risk of readmission and death among smokers highlights the importance of smoking cessation services. Dr. Ho cited previous research suggesting these services are underused in the hospital setting (BMJ Qual Improv Rep. 2014;3[1]:u204964.w2110).
“Given that smoking is a common phenomenon among patients admitted with pulmonary embolism, we suggest that more rigorous smoking cessation services are implemented prior to discharge for all active smokers,” Dr. Ho said. “[P]atients have the right to be informed on the benefits of smoking cessation and the autonomy to choose. Future research will focus on implementing inpatient smoking cessation at our hospital and its effect on local readmission rate, health resources utilization, and mortality.”
Dr. Ho has no relevant relationships to disclose.
SOURCE: Ho KS et al. CHEST 2019 October. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2019.08.1551.
REPORTING FROM CHEST 2019
Getting high heightens stroke, arrhythmia risks
Stoners, beware: , and people with cannabis use disorder are at a 50% greater risk of being hospitalized for arrhythmias, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2019.
An analysis of pooled data on nearly 44,000 participants in a cross-sectional survey showed that, among the 13.6% who reported using marijuana within the last 30 days, the adjusted odds ratio for young-onset stroke (aged 18-44 years), compared with non-users, was 2.75, reported Tarang Parekh, MBBS, a health policy researcher of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and colleagues.
In a separate study, a retrospective analysis of national inpatient data showed that people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder – a pathological pattern of impaired control, social impairment, risky behavior or physiological adaptation similar in nature to alcoholism – had a 47%-52% increased likelihood of hospitalization for an arrhythmia, reported Rikinkumar S. Patel, MD, a psychiatry resident at Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman, Okla.
“As these [cannabis] products become increasingly used across the country, getting clearer, scientifically rigorous data is going to be important as we try to understand the overall health effects of cannabis,” said AHA President Robert Harrington, MD, of Stanford (Calif.) University in a statement.
Currently, use of both medical and recreational marijuana is fully legal in 11 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Medical marijuana is legal with recreational use decriminalized (or penalties reduced) in 28 other states, and totally illegal in 11 other states, according to employee screening firm DISA Global Solutions.
Stroke study
In an oral presentation with simultaneous publication in the AHA journal Stroke, Dr. Parekh and colleagues presented an analysis of pooled data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016 and 2017.
They looked at baseline sociodemographic data and created multivariable logistic regression models with state fixed effects to determine whether marijuana use within the last 30 days was associated with young-onset stroke.
They identified 43,860 participants representing a weighted sample of 35.5 million Americans. Of the sample, 63.3% were male, and 13.6 % of all participants reported using marijuana in the last 30 days.
They found in an unadjusted model that marijuana users had an odds ratio for stroke, compared with nonusers, of 1.59 (P less than.1), and in a model adjusted for demographic factors (gender, race, ethnicity, and education) the OR increased to 1.76 (P less than .05).
When they threw risk behavior into the model (physical activity, body mass index, heavy drinking, and cigarette smoking), they saw that the OR for stroke shot up to 2.75 (P less than .01).
“Physicians should ask patients if they use cannabis and counsel them about its potential stroke risk as part of regular doctor visits,” Dr. Parekh said in a statement.
Arrhythmias study
Based on recent studies suggesting that cannabis use may trigger cardiovascular events, Dr. Patel and colleagues studied whether cannabis use disorder may be related to arrhythmias, approaching the question through hospital records.
“The effects of using cannabis are seen within 15 minutes and last for around 3 hours. At lower doses, it is linked to a rapid heartbeat. At higher doses, it is linked to a too-slow heartbeat,” he said in a statement.
Dr. Patel and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2010-2014, a period during which medical marijuana became legal in several states and recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado and Washington. The sample is a database maintained by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project of the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
They identified 570,557 patients aged 15-54 years with a primary diagnosis of arrhythmia, and compared them with a sample of 67,662,082 patients hospitalized with no arrhythmia diagnosed during the same period.
They found a 2.6% incidence of cannabis use disorder among patients hospitalized for arrhythmias. Patients with cannabis use disorder tended to be younger (15- to 24-years-old; OR, 4.23), male (OR, 1.70) and African American (OR, 2.70).
In regression analysis adjusted for demographics and comorbidities, cannabis use disorder was associated with higher odds of arrhythmia hospitalization in young patients, at 1.28 times among 15- to 24-year-olds (95% confidence interval, 1.229-1.346) and 1.52 times for 25- to 34-year-olds (95% CI, 1.469-1.578).
“As medical and recreational cannabis is legalized in many states, it is important to know the difference between therapeutic cannabis dosing for medical purposes and the consequences of cannabis abuse. We urgently need additional research to understand these issues,” Dr. Patel said.
“It’s not proving that there’s a direct link, but it’s raising a suggestion in an observational analysis that [this] indeed might be the case. What that means for clinicians is that, if you’re seeing a patient who is presenting with a symptomatic arrhythmia, adding cannabis usage to your list of questions as you begin to try to understand possible precipitating factors for this arrhythmia seems to be a reasonable thing to do,” Dr. Harrington commented.
Stoners, beware: , and people with cannabis use disorder are at a 50% greater risk of being hospitalized for arrhythmias, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2019.
An analysis of pooled data on nearly 44,000 participants in a cross-sectional survey showed that, among the 13.6% who reported using marijuana within the last 30 days, the adjusted odds ratio for young-onset stroke (aged 18-44 years), compared with non-users, was 2.75, reported Tarang Parekh, MBBS, a health policy researcher of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and colleagues.
In a separate study, a retrospective analysis of national inpatient data showed that people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder – a pathological pattern of impaired control, social impairment, risky behavior or physiological adaptation similar in nature to alcoholism – had a 47%-52% increased likelihood of hospitalization for an arrhythmia, reported Rikinkumar S. Patel, MD, a psychiatry resident at Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman, Okla.
“As these [cannabis] products become increasingly used across the country, getting clearer, scientifically rigorous data is going to be important as we try to understand the overall health effects of cannabis,” said AHA President Robert Harrington, MD, of Stanford (Calif.) University in a statement.
Currently, use of both medical and recreational marijuana is fully legal in 11 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Medical marijuana is legal with recreational use decriminalized (or penalties reduced) in 28 other states, and totally illegal in 11 other states, according to employee screening firm DISA Global Solutions.
Stroke study
In an oral presentation with simultaneous publication in the AHA journal Stroke, Dr. Parekh and colleagues presented an analysis of pooled data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016 and 2017.
They looked at baseline sociodemographic data and created multivariable logistic regression models with state fixed effects to determine whether marijuana use within the last 30 days was associated with young-onset stroke.
They identified 43,860 participants representing a weighted sample of 35.5 million Americans. Of the sample, 63.3% were male, and 13.6 % of all participants reported using marijuana in the last 30 days.
They found in an unadjusted model that marijuana users had an odds ratio for stroke, compared with nonusers, of 1.59 (P less than.1), and in a model adjusted for demographic factors (gender, race, ethnicity, and education) the OR increased to 1.76 (P less than .05).
When they threw risk behavior into the model (physical activity, body mass index, heavy drinking, and cigarette smoking), they saw that the OR for stroke shot up to 2.75 (P less than .01).
“Physicians should ask patients if they use cannabis and counsel them about its potential stroke risk as part of regular doctor visits,” Dr. Parekh said in a statement.
Arrhythmias study
Based on recent studies suggesting that cannabis use may trigger cardiovascular events, Dr. Patel and colleagues studied whether cannabis use disorder may be related to arrhythmias, approaching the question through hospital records.
“The effects of using cannabis are seen within 15 minutes and last for around 3 hours. At lower doses, it is linked to a rapid heartbeat. At higher doses, it is linked to a too-slow heartbeat,” he said in a statement.
Dr. Patel and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2010-2014, a period during which medical marijuana became legal in several states and recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado and Washington. The sample is a database maintained by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project of the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
They identified 570,557 patients aged 15-54 years with a primary diagnosis of arrhythmia, and compared them with a sample of 67,662,082 patients hospitalized with no arrhythmia diagnosed during the same period.
They found a 2.6% incidence of cannabis use disorder among patients hospitalized for arrhythmias. Patients with cannabis use disorder tended to be younger (15- to 24-years-old; OR, 4.23), male (OR, 1.70) and African American (OR, 2.70).
In regression analysis adjusted for demographics and comorbidities, cannabis use disorder was associated with higher odds of arrhythmia hospitalization in young patients, at 1.28 times among 15- to 24-year-olds (95% confidence interval, 1.229-1.346) and 1.52 times for 25- to 34-year-olds (95% CI, 1.469-1.578).
“As medical and recreational cannabis is legalized in many states, it is important to know the difference between therapeutic cannabis dosing for medical purposes and the consequences of cannabis abuse. We urgently need additional research to understand these issues,” Dr. Patel said.
“It’s not proving that there’s a direct link, but it’s raising a suggestion in an observational analysis that [this] indeed might be the case. What that means for clinicians is that, if you’re seeing a patient who is presenting with a symptomatic arrhythmia, adding cannabis usage to your list of questions as you begin to try to understand possible precipitating factors for this arrhythmia seems to be a reasonable thing to do,” Dr. Harrington commented.
Stoners, beware: , and people with cannabis use disorder are at a 50% greater risk of being hospitalized for arrhythmias, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2019.
An analysis of pooled data on nearly 44,000 participants in a cross-sectional survey showed that, among the 13.6% who reported using marijuana within the last 30 days, the adjusted odds ratio for young-onset stroke (aged 18-44 years), compared with non-users, was 2.75, reported Tarang Parekh, MBBS, a health policy researcher of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and colleagues.
In a separate study, a retrospective analysis of national inpatient data showed that people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder – a pathological pattern of impaired control, social impairment, risky behavior or physiological adaptation similar in nature to alcoholism – had a 47%-52% increased likelihood of hospitalization for an arrhythmia, reported Rikinkumar S. Patel, MD, a psychiatry resident at Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman, Okla.
“As these [cannabis] products become increasingly used across the country, getting clearer, scientifically rigorous data is going to be important as we try to understand the overall health effects of cannabis,” said AHA President Robert Harrington, MD, of Stanford (Calif.) University in a statement.
Currently, use of both medical and recreational marijuana is fully legal in 11 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Medical marijuana is legal with recreational use decriminalized (or penalties reduced) in 28 other states, and totally illegal in 11 other states, according to employee screening firm DISA Global Solutions.
Stroke study
In an oral presentation with simultaneous publication in the AHA journal Stroke, Dr. Parekh and colleagues presented an analysis of pooled data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016 and 2017.
They looked at baseline sociodemographic data and created multivariable logistic regression models with state fixed effects to determine whether marijuana use within the last 30 days was associated with young-onset stroke.
They identified 43,860 participants representing a weighted sample of 35.5 million Americans. Of the sample, 63.3% were male, and 13.6 % of all participants reported using marijuana in the last 30 days.
They found in an unadjusted model that marijuana users had an odds ratio for stroke, compared with nonusers, of 1.59 (P less than.1), and in a model adjusted for demographic factors (gender, race, ethnicity, and education) the OR increased to 1.76 (P less than .05).
When they threw risk behavior into the model (physical activity, body mass index, heavy drinking, and cigarette smoking), they saw that the OR for stroke shot up to 2.75 (P less than .01).
“Physicians should ask patients if they use cannabis and counsel them about its potential stroke risk as part of regular doctor visits,” Dr. Parekh said in a statement.
Arrhythmias study
Based on recent studies suggesting that cannabis use may trigger cardiovascular events, Dr. Patel and colleagues studied whether cannabis use disorder may be related to arrhythmias, approaching the question through hospital records.
“The effects of using cannabis are seen within 15 minutes and last for around 3 hours. At lower doses, it is linked to a rapid heartbeat. At higher doses, it is linked to a too-slow heartbeat,” he said in a statement.
Dr. Patel and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2010-2014, a period during which medical marijuana became legal in several states and recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado and Washington. The sample is a database maintained by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project of the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
They identified 570,557 patients aged 15-54 years with a primary diagnosis of arrhythmia, and compared them with a sample of 67,662,082 patients hospitalized with no arrhythmia diagnosed during the same period.
They found a 2.6% incidence of cannabis use disorder among patients hospitalized for arrhythmias. Patients with cannabis use disorder tended to be younger (15- to 24-years-old; OR, 4.23), male (OR, 1.70) and African American (OR, 2.70).
In regression analysis adjusted for demographics and comorbidities, cannabis use disorder was associated with higher odds of arrhythmia hospitalization in young patients, at 1.28 times among 15- to 24-year-olds (95% confidence interval, 1.229-1.346) and 1.52 times for 25- to 34-year-olds (95% CI, 1.469-1.578).
“As medical and recreational cannabis is legalized in many states, it is important to know the difference between therapeutic cannabis dosing for medical purposes and the consequences of cannabis abuse. We urgently need additional research to understand these issues,” Dr. Patel said.
“It’s not proving that there’s a direct link, but it’s raising a suggestion in an observational analysis that [this] indeed might be the case. What that means for clinicians is that, if you’re seeing a patient who is presenting with a symptomatic arrhythmia, adding cannabis usage to your list of questions as you begin to try to understand possible precipitating factors for this arrhythmia seems to be a reasonable thing to do,” Dr. Harrington commented.
REPORTING FROM AHA 2019