The European Respiratory Society (ERS)/American Thoracic Society (ATS) Task Force on severe asthma includes an updated definition of severe asthma, a discussion of severe asthma phenotypes in relation to genetics, natural history, pathobiology and physiology, as well as sections on evaluation and tr...eatment of severe asthma where specific recommendations for practice are made. See the unabridged online version of the document for detailed discussion of the definition of severe asthma, phenotypes and recommendations for practice.
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Socioeconomic status is associated with differences in risk factors for cardiovascular disease incidence and outcomes, including mortality. However, it is unclear whether the associations between cardiovascular disease and common measures of socioeconomic status—wealth and education—differ among... high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries, and, if so, why these differences exist. We explored the association between education and household wealth and cardiovascular disease and mortality to assess which marker is the stronger predictor of outcomes, and examined whether any differences in cardiovascular disease by socioeconomic status parallel differences in risk factor levels or differences in management.
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The “ActiveAge Handbook” is an outcome of the “ActiveAge Project, which was carried out from January 2013 until June 2014 in the frame of “2012 Preparatory Actions in the Field of Sport” of the European Commission Directory General Education and Cul-
ture (DG EAC) in cooperation with 13 E...uropean partners under the leadership of the German Gymnastic Federation (DTB). “ActiveAge” was set up as a transnational project that fosters the exchange of knowledge and experience to counteract the physical inactivity of elderly people through capacity building for physical activities and sport programs of aging people in well-
structured and wide-spread settings, with the starting point in sport-organizations.
The handbook is intended to be used as a guideline for further activities of the “European Platform Active Aging in Sport” (EPAAS), which will continue the mission of the ActiveAge Project. Furthermore the handbook should serve as well for any other stakeholder interested to promote physical activities and sport for elderly people.
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The ninth WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic tracks the progress made by countries in tobacco control since 2008 and, marks 15 years since the introduction of the MPOWER technical package which is designed to help countries implement the demand-reduction measures of the WHO Framework Conventi...on on Tobacco Control. The report shows that many countries continue to make progress in the fight against tobacco, but efforts must be accelerated to protect people from the harms of tobacco and second-hand smoke.
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The document "Appropriate use and withdrawal of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)" from the IPCRG provides guidance on when to start, adjust, or discontinue ICS in COPD treatment. It highlights the benefits and risks, emphasizing personalized... treatment based on patient history, exacerbation frequency, and eosinophil count, while detailing how to optimize bronchodilator use to manage symptoms effectively.
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Objective: To conduct a landscape assessment of public knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk factors and acute myocardial infarction symptoms, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) awareness and training in three underserved communities in Brazil.
Metho...ds: A cross-sectional, population-based survey of non-institutionalised adults age 30 or greater was conducted in three municipalities in Eastern Brazil. Data were analysed as survey-weighted percentages of the sampled populations.
Results: 3035 surveys were completed. Overall, one-third of respondents was unable to identify at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor and 25% unable to identify at least one myocardial infarction symptom. A minority of respondents had received training in CPR or were able to identify an AED. Low levels of education and low socioeconomic status were consistent predictors of lower knowledge levels of cardiovascular disease risk factors, acute coronary syndrome symptoms and CPR and AED use.
Conclusions: In three municipalities in Eastern Brazil, overall public knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk factors and symptoms, as well as knowledge of appropriate CPR and AED use was low. Our findings indicate the need for interventions to improve public knowledge and response to acute cardiovascular events in Brazil as a first step towards improving health outcomes in this population. Significant heterogeneity in knowledge seen across sites and socioeconomic strata indicates a need to appropriately target such interventions.
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This guide is a resource for physicians and other health care professionals who provide care and treatment to patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis.
The burden of diabetes is enormous, positioning it as one of the main challenges facing public health today. Currently, it is estimated that 62 million people are living with diabetes in the Region of the Americas and projections show its prevalence will continue rising over the following years. The... Region shows the highest number of years of healthy life lost (through either disability or premature death) due to diabetes worldwide. The high costs associated with its treatment produce a heavy economic burden. Its complications can seriously affect the quality of life of people living with diabetes, their families, and society and overload health systems. This report shows the latest internationally comparable data on diabetes and its main risk factors by year, country, and sex.
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Approximately 80% of the 463 million adults worldwide with diabetes live in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). A major obstacle to designing evidence-based policies to improve diabetes outcomes in LMICs is the scarce availability of nationally representative data on the current patterns... of treatment coverage. The objectives of this study were to estimate the proportion of adults with diabetes in LMICs who receive coverage of recommended pharmacological and non-pharmacological diabetes treatment; and to describe country-level and individual-level characteristics that are associated with treatment.
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The World Heart Federation (WHF) is a leading global advocate for stronger legislation and policies regarding cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors, including raised cholesterol. The present Cholesterol Advocacy Toolkit 2022 provides WHF member organizations with information as well as p...ractical tools to
support cholesterol advocacy at the local and regional levels.
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The Global Asthma Report (GAR) 2022, prepared by the Global Asthma Network (GAN), is the fourth such report (others 2011, 2014, 2018). GAN builds upon the work of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) and The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (T...he Union) to monitor asthma and improve asthma care, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
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Clinical Guidelines. Diagnosis and Treatment Manual.
This guide provides a systematic, practical approach to support primary care and other healthcare professionals to improve the care of peopel over the age of 18 years with difficult to manage asthma.
WHO Guideline. Since 2010, countries in the meningitis belt have started to introduce a new serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccine conferring individual protection and herd immunity. Following the successful roll-out of this vaccine, epidemics due to Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A (NmA) are... disappearing, but other serogroups (e.g. NmW, NmX and NmC) still cause epidemics, albeit at a lower frequency and of a smaller size. Due to these changes, WHO organized the review of the evidence to provide recommendations for epidemic control, related to operational thresholds for investigation and response to outbreaks, the use of rapid diagnostic tests, antibiotic regimens in epidemics, and prophylaxis for household contacts of cases
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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV‑2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has reached pandemic levels;
Patients with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and established cardiovascular disease (CVD) represent a vulnerable population when suffering from COVID-19;
Patien...ts with cardiac injury in the context of COVID-19 have an increased risk of morbidity and mortality
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This technical report has been developed within the framework of the WHO Global Initiative for
Childhood Cancer. Its goal is to improve the situation of children and adolescents with cancer worldwide,
giving them the best chances of survival, living a full life and, above all, enjoying quality of ...life and dying
without suffering
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Pathogen genomic surveillance has become a priority for public health systems in recent years. Genomic sequencing is increasingly being used to characterize pathogens and monitor important public health priorities (e.g. poliovirus, influenza virus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Vibrio cholerae, ant...imicrobial resistance (AMR)). The decrease in cost and time of sequencing and the exponential development of bioinformatic pipelines have played a critical role in integrating pathogen genomics into routine public health surveillance. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the role that sequencing plays in the surveillance of infectious diseases. Sequencing facilitates earlier detection, more accurate investigation of outbreaks, closer real-time monitoring of pathogen evolution and tailored development and evaluation of interventions to inform local to global public health decision-making and action. However, there remains a need to coordinate efforts, leverage and link existing surveillance and laboratory networks and capabilities, and systematically integrate genetic sequence data (GSD) with clinical and epidemiological data to strengthen its utility.
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