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On Tuesday, May 23, 2017, the American Thoracic Society will lead ATS members, pulmonary clinicians, researchers, and patient advocates in the ATS Rally on Capitol Hill: Lab Coats for Lungs. The rally will bring attention to recent policies that threaten to undermine many of the ATS’s advocacy priorities including: research funding, tobacco regulation, affordable health care, and clean air.

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In support of World Asthma Day, May 2, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member, urges more availability to effective medications and health care for persons with asthma. It is estimated that between 300 and 400 million people worldwide suffer from asthma and about 250,000 people die each year – that is 1300 deaths every day. Most of them occur in low- and middle income countries. Asthma affects 14 percent of all children worldwide and its prevalence is rising. It is a major cause of school absenteeism and preventable hospital admissions.

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Better medical responses to the accidental or intentional release of inhaled toxic chemicals are being developed, but the field faces considerable challenges, according to a new report by an international panel of experts. The report, “Chemical Inhalation Disasters: Biology of Lung Injury, Development of Novel Therapeutics, and Medical Preparedness,” has been published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

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The American Thoracic Society today announced a new $100,000 two-year research fellowship in the area of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The “ATS Foundation/ResMed Research Fellowship in Noninvasive Ventilation in COPD” award is funded by ResMed (NYSE:RMD), a global leader in NIV devices for treating COPD in the home and hospital.

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ATS 2017 will feature more than 500 sessions as well as scientific poster sessions and individual presentations of approximately 6,700 scientific and case report abstracts, covering a range of clinical and basic science discoveries that are changing medicine's understanding and treatment of patients.

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"Climate change is real. It is affecting our world and it is having a direct impact on public health, today. The science clearly illustrates how human health is harmed by heat waves, forest fires, extreme weather events and other consequences of carbon pollution.

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Bedcovers that form a barrier to house dust mites appear to reduce asthma flare-ups in children, according to new research published online, ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Does a stay in the intensive care unit give patients a better chance of surviving a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or heart failure flare-up or even a heart attack, compared with care in another type of hospital unit? Unless a patient is clearly critically ill, the answer may be no, according to University of Michigan researchers who analyzed more than 1.5 million Medicare records. Their study, “ICU Admission and Survival among Older Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Heart Failure, or Myocardial Infarction,” is published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

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In the largest epidemiological study conducted in the developing world, researchers found that as exposures to fine particulate air pollution in 272 Chinese cities increase, so do deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

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Preterm babies given the monoclonal antibody palivizumab to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) also appear less likely to develop recurrent wheeze, at least until the age of six, according to new research published online, ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Medicine.

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The Global Initiative for the Diagnosis, Management and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) has published its 2017 report online, ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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In patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), oral appliances that treat the condition by moving the lower jaw forward appear to improve sleep but not reduce key risk factors for developing heart and other cardiovascular disease, according to new research published online, ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Children with asthma may be more likely to become obese later in childhood or in adolescence, according to new research published online ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Replacing biomass and kerosene cookstoves used throughout the developing world with clean-burning ethanol stoves may reduce hypertension and cardiovascular risk in pregnant women, according to new research published online, ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Menopausal women appear to experience an accelerated decline in lung function, according to new research published online ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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In recognition of World AIDS Day, held annually on Dec. 1 each year since 1988, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) is calling on governments, health advocates and non-government organizations to strengthen their response to HIV/AIDS. In 2015 AIDS claimed 1.1 million lives.

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E-cigarette use among teenagers is growing dramatically, and public health experts are concerned that these devices may be a gateway to smoking. Now, new research indicates that even if these young e-cigarette users do not become tobacco smokers, e-cigarettes may harm their health.

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“Pneumonia is the top infection-linked killer of children globally,” says Roomi Nusrat, MD, a member of the American Thoracic Society’s Pneumonia Working Group and Allergy, Immunology and Inflammation Assembly. “It is responsible for more than 50,000 deaths each year in the U.S.”

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With five simple questions and an inexpensive peak expiratory flow (PEF) meter, primary care clinicians may be able to diagnose many more patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Follow-up studies will help establish if earlier identification and treatment of people with COPD improves quality of life and health outcomes.

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The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) and the American Thoracic Society (ATS) have published new guidelines for discontinuing mechanical ventilation in critically ill adults. The goal of the guidelines is to help physicians and other health care professionals determine when patients with acute respiratory failure can breathe on their own and to provide clinical advice that may increase the chances for successful extubation.

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A survey of international members of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) found that 96 percent of respondents agreed that climate change is occurring and 81 percent indicated that climate change has direct relevance to patient care. Compared to a similar survey of American ATS members, more international physician members reported that climate change was affecting their patients “a great deal” or a “moderate amount” (69 percent international vs. 44 percent U.S.).

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High indoor temperatures appear to worsen symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, particularly in homes that also have high levels of air pollutants, according to new research published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

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The American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the Japanese Respiratory Society (JRS) have published new clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and management of lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare lung disease that primarily affects women of child-bearing age.

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Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, are associated with significant long-term lung function loss, according to research published online, ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Aug. 10, 2016─Reducing outdoor concentrations of two air pollutants, ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), to levels below those set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would likely save thousands of lives each year, result in far fewer serious illnesses and dramatically reduce missed days of school and work, according to a new analysis conducted by the American Thoracic Society and the Marron Institute of Urban Management at New York University.

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WHAT: On August 10, the American Thoracic Society and the Marron Institute of Urban Management at New York University will share findings from their seminal report on the annual health benefits of meeting more protective air pollution standards as recommended by the ATS. The report focuses on ozone (O3), a component of smog, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), tiny particles that are released when fuel is burned by motor vehicles and power plants, and also other sources.

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The American Thoracic Society has issued clinical practice guidelines to help pediatricians and pediatric pulmonologists evaluate infants with recurrent or persistent wheezing. “Official ATS American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guidelines: Diagnostic Evaluation of Infants with Recurrent or Persistent Wheezing” is published in the Society’s Aug. 1 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and is available online.

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July 8, 2016─London’s Great Smog of 1952 resulted in thousands of premature deaths and even more people becoming ill. The five December days the smog lasted may have also resulted in thousands more cases of childhood and adult asthma, according to research published in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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A recent study in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society found that in a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries who were newly diagnosed with COPD, adherence to maintenance medications decreased with new episodes of depression.

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Chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with predominant central sleep apnea (CSA) are at higher risk for death and unplanned hospitalization than those who have both CSA and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), whether or not they receive adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) therapy. These interim results from the ongoing FACE Multicentre National Cohort Study, a French prospective observational study, were presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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A new skin test for tuberculosis infection has proven safe, easy to administer and accurate in two Phase III clinical trials, according to research presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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Transitions in care that occur when medical residents leave a clinical rotation and turn their patients’ care over to another resident is associated with increased mortality, according to new research presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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Patients with obstructive lung disease who take inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) may be at greater risk for nontuberculous mycobacteria pulmonary disease (NTM PD), according to new research presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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A new study has demonstrated a way to deliver a nanoparticle–based gene therapy, in order to repair lungs damaged by chronic allergic asthma and to reduce inflammation that causes asthma attacks. The potential therapy, tested in mice, may hold promise for asthma patients whose disease is not controlled by the most commonly used treatments. The study was presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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Children who had a diet that included cow’s milk products, egg and peanut before age one were less likely to develop sensitization to the corresponding foods, according to new research presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference. Early introduction of eggs appeared to be especially beneficial, as it decreased the risk of sensitization to any of the three tested foods.

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Patients with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) develop more severe critical illness and have higher mortality than patients with non-MERS severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), according to investigators involved with the largest study of critically ill patients with MERS. The study was presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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For the first time, researchers were able to demonstrate that children diagnosed with sickle cell disease showed improvement in lung function after treatment with hydroxyurea, a treatment that is underused despite its demonstrated benefits. The study was presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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Adult patients who were admitted to U.S. intensive care units had higher mortality if they were extubated overnight. The results reported at the ATS 2016 International Conference may discourage hospital administrators from expanding the practice of overnight extubations in ICUs, which the lead author noted are rapidly being transformed to provide continuity of care.

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Asthma is overdiagnosed in an estimated 30 percent of Canadian adult , according to a study presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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A streamlined approach to tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis requiring a single sputum sample and providing rapid, accurate results to patients proved feasible in rural Uganda, according to research presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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In an ongoing prospective study involving 1,311 patients from five nations, researchers found that untreated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) was associated with increased risk of a Major Adverse Cardiac and Cerebrovascular Event (MACCE) -- cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (heart attack), non-fatal stroke, and unplanned revascularization such as heart bypass surgery and angioplasty. The new research, from the Sleep and Stent Study, was presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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Being fit may reduce the decline in lung function that occurs as we grow older, according to research presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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Additional support by palliative care specialists failed to improve anxiety and depression symptoms in caregivers of patients with chronic critical illness, according to new research presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference. Patients also saw little benefit as the additional support did not lead to reduced time on a breathing machine or in the hospital.

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Sleep assessments in young children showed that, in the context of habitual snoring and enlarged tonsils and adenoids, moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea increased the likelihood and magnitude of cognitive deficits. These deficits include, but are not limited to, problems with attention, memory and language. The research results were presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

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In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), exacerbations accelerated lung function loss, according to a new study presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference. The effect was particularly prominent in those with mild disease.

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Untreated severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with increased aggressiveness of malignant cutaneous melanoma, according to the first multicenter prospective study on the relationship between sleep-disordered breathing (apnea or hypopnea) and cancer. The new study, which involved researchers from 24 teaching hospitals that are part of the Spanish Sleep and Breathing Network, was presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.