Trending News: Study Links E-Cigarette Usage, Higher Risk of Chronic Lung Diseases

Researchers have found a link between e-cigarette usage and a higher risk of chronic lung diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to US News and World Report. The team tracked data on cigarette and e-cigarette use of more than 32,000 US adults, none of whom had lung disease at the start of the study. They found that current and former e-cigarette users were 30% more likely to develop chronic lung disease, whereas tobacco smokers had more than a 2.6-times increased risk.

Study results have shown that 65.4% of patients with Parkinson disease reported experiencing symptom recurrence, known as OFF periods, which cause a significant impact on quality of life and financial stability, according to The American Journal of Managed Care. These OFF periods are shown to occur in 40% of patients after 4 to 6 years of treatment and in 90% after 10 years. The study, which examined the financial burden of patients with Parkinson disease (PD), found that 56.8% of participants with PD reported that symptom recurrence played a major role in the decisions to stop working.

The benefits of offering antiretroviral therapy (ART) on the same day as home-based HIV testing stood up in a 2-year follow-up of the CASCADE trial in Lesotho, Africa, according to Contagion Live. The CASCADE trial is among several studies to examine the effects of rapid ART initiation. The follow-up study found that although involvement in care and viral suppression leveled off at 24 months, there was no significant disengagement among patients who had received ART on the same day.