Category Archives: Lung Health

Acute bronchitis is a temporary form of bronchitis caused by a virus – which means it cannot be treated with antibiotics. If you’re wondering if acute bronchitis is contagious, the answer is yes. Similar to influenza, acute bronchitis is transmitted person-to-person by droplets that are released into the air through coughs, sneezes, or talking. The ...click here to read more

Celiac disease may increase the risk of asthma by 60 percent, according to research. For every 100,000 people with celiac disease, 147 will develop asthma, which would not have occurred if it weren’t for the digestive disorder. The study found that asthmatics were also more likely to develop celiac disease. The researchers compared over 28,000 ...click here to read more

In COPD patients, pneumonia survival in hospitals is improved with inhaled corticosteroid treatment. The findings of the study uncovered that lower in-hospital mortality was seen in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients who received a combination of long-acting inhaled bronchodilators (IBD) therapy and corticosteroids, compared to patients on IBD alone. Inhaled corticosteroids – although effective ...click here to read more

Trouble breathing? Persistent cough or frequent chest infections? This could be chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – the name for a collection of lung conditions including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and chronic obstructive airways disease. COPD exacerbation is not something you want to fool around with. Your body needs oxygen and you need to breathe! People with ...click here to read more

Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) is a type of pneumonia that is contracted during one’s stay in a hospital – typically occurring within 48 hours. Common bacteria that cause it include ram-negative bacilli and Staphylococcus aureus. Hospital-acquired pneumonia is particularly dangerous as it is often resistant to antibiotics. The risk for hospital-acquired pneumonia can be quite high ...click here to read more

COPD patients can benefit from music therapy, according to research. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affects a person’s lungs and breathing, and the study found that music therapy in conjunction with traditional therapies can help improve symptoms better than standard treatment alone. Symptoms of COPD include shortness of breath, wheezing, an ongoing cough, frequent colds and ...click here to read more

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are both respiratory conditions that are chronic and affect a person’s breathing. With many shared similarities, the two can easily be misdiagnosed for one another and that is why testing is so important to determine the exact diagnosis. According to a presentation given at the American College of ...click here to read more

Pneumonia and pneumonitis are two serious respiratory infections, which – if not treated early on – can lead to life-threatening consequences. Although both conditions affect the lungs, there are distinct differences that help differentiate between the two conditions. Breathing problems are a primary characteristic of either infection. Impaired breathing can limit oxygen supply to the ...click here to read more

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is associated with depression, and a recent study has explained this link. COPD affects 24 million Americans, and although discussions have been taking place regarding a potential connection between COPD and depression, there was limited research done on the topic. In a new study, researchers found that one in four ...click here to read more

Pneumonia risk varies with vitamin D and E levels, smoking, and exercise. The findings come from researchers at the University of Finland who uncovered that low vitamin D serum levels are a risk factor for pneumonia. The researchers found that the risk of contracting pneumonia was 2.5 times greater in individuals with low vitamin D ...click here to read more

Bronchitis and pneumonia are two respiratory conditions that at first may appear to be the same, but there are unique differences distinguishing the two. In both conditions, inflammation is present, but for bronchitis it is inflammation of the bronchi, and in pneumonia it is inflammation of the lungs. Both conditions affect the lower part of ...click here to read more

Rheumatoid arthritis affects the lungs and raises the risk of interstitial lung disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune type of arthritis, and although it primarily affects the joints, it can affect other body parts and organs, too. According to researchers, respiratory conditions are the second leading cause of death among rheumatoid arthritis patients. Some are ...click here to read more

Walking pneumonia (atypical pneumonia) is a type of pneumonia, an illness that affects the upper and lower respiratory tract. The term walking pneumonia comes from the fact that many patients who have the condition don’t even realize it because their day-to-day living is not affected. Walking pneumonia does not involve hospitalization or bed rest as ...click here to read more

Asthma is overdiagnosed in an estimated 30 percent of Canadians, according to new findings. Lead study author Shawn Aaron said, “Careful testing revealed that 33 percent of people who had been recently diagnosed with asthma in the community did not have current asthma even after withdrawal of asthma medications.” The study randomly recruited 701 non-smoking ...click here to read more