J D Chalmers

..Initial studies have suggested that inflammatory markers may have a role in predicting severity. We investigated whether admission and day 4 CRP could predict severity in community-acquired pneumonia...

..Clinical studies have provided conflicting results, but many suggest that statins may have a role in preventing pneumonia, or improving prognosis in hospitalised patients with community-acquired pneumonia...

..All studies had significant limitations. The available evidence suggests that interventions to increase the proportion of patients treated in the community are safe, effective and acceptable to patients...

..The aim of this study was to compare the performance characteristics of these scores for predicting mortality in community-acquired pneumonia...

..Greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying chronic colonisation in bronchiectasis will assist in the development of new treatments for this important disease...

..Vitamin-D deficiency has been linked to an increased risk of respiratory infections. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and clinical importance of vitamin-D deficiency in patients with bronchiectasis...

..There are little data to support this hypothesis in patients with non-cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis...

..The limitations of severity scores are discussed along with recent attempts to improve predictive tools, with the development of new biomarkers and alternative scoring systems...

..Although the major criteria (requirement for mechanical ventilation or septic shock requiring vasopressor support) are well established, the value of the minor criteria alone have not been fully validated...

..The recently introduced concept of health care-associated pneumonia (HCAP), referring to patients with frequent healthcare contacts and at higher risk of contracting resistant pathogens, is controversial...

..The aim of this meta-analysis was to determine if severity assessment tools can be used to guide decisions regarding intensive care unit (ICU) admission of patients with community-acquired pneumonia...

..Simple improvements in the management of LRTIs have the potential to reduce the incidence of healthcare-associated infections...

..This commentary discusses recent attempts to develop useful severity criteria to guide the use of ICU resources in patients with severe CAP...

..We seek to investigate the association of D-dimer, a fibrinolysis biomarker, and 30-day mortality or the need for mechanical ventilation or vasopressor support in emergency department (ED) patients with community-acquired pneumonia...

..The aim of this study was to identify key factors on admission predicting the development of complicated parapneumonic effusion or empyema in patients admitted with community-acquired pneumonia...

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..Statins have potent anti-inflammatory effects in laboratory studies of pulmonary inflammation. We investigated whether statin users had improved outcome when admitted with community-acquired pneumonia...

..The aim of this study was to establish which readily available haemodynamic measure on admission is most useful for predicting severity in patients admitted with community acquired pneumonia...

..54, 95% CI 1.21-17.1; p=0.03). This study supports recommendations from international guidelines that pneumonia severity scores should be used as an adjunct to clinical judgement, when deciding on hospitalisation...

..Biomarkers and clinical prediction rules have been proposed for severity assessment in acute pulmonary embolism (PE)...

..0002) and need for inotropic support (OR, 2.9, 95% CI 1.4-6.3; p = 0.0006). Admission hypoglycaemia is associated with increased 30-day mortality, need for mechanical ventilation and inotropic support in patients presenting with CAP...

..73, 95% CI 0.33-1.62; p = 0.4) or development of complicated pneumonia (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.25-1.99; p = 0.5). Prior ICS use had no impact on outcome in patients with COPD admitted with CAP...

..Recognition of cardiovascular risk factors is important for primary and secondary prevention strategies. Recent evidence has linked lower respiratory tract infections with the development of acute myocardial infarction...

..However, there is no uniform agreement about the optimum severity assessment tool to use. This review provides a summary of current evidence surrounding severity assessment in adult patients presenting with community-acquired pneumonia...

..This study therefore suggests that, in the majority of severe CAP patients who have clinically responded, antibiotics can be safely discontinued at 7 days...

..We aimed to assess its value on admission in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP)...

..The aim of this study is to determine if IGRA changes practice in the management of cases referred to a TB clinic for possible LTBI. Design and..

..We aimed to study the accuracy of these severity tools to predict mortality in patients managed as out-patients...

..The aim of our study was to determine the effectiveness of contact tracing for both pulmonary and non-pulmonary tuberculosis (TB)...

..In this review, pro and con arguments for the association between ICS and increased pneumonia risk are discussed, drawing on evidence from experimental and clinical research...

..The aim of our study was to assess the impact of 8-weekly intravenous (IV) antibiotics on exacerbation frequency and health-related quality of life in bronchiectasis...

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