Asthma, rhinitis, and nasal polyp multimorbidities. / Rinitis, poliposis nasal y su relación con el asma.

The aim of this review is to assist pulmonologists in the management of diseases involving both the upper and lower respiratory tract that are linked by a common, interrelated epidemiology, clinical signs and symptoms, and inflammatory mechanism - asthma, in particular. The document discusses the definitions of the various sinonasal phenotypes associated with asthma: allergic and non-allergic rhinitis and chronic rhinosinusitis with or without nasal polyps. Diagnostic criteria and severity levels are also listed. Particular attention has been given to the 2 main syndromes associated with asthma: (i)allergic rhinitis, the most common, and (ii)chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, the disease most closely associated with severe asthma. To summarize, the upper respiratory tract should always be evaluated in order to achieve a single diagnosis and comprehensive treatment of the "united airway".

[Influence of asthma inhalers on a breath alcohol test]. / Influencia del uso de inhaladores en la estimación del grado de alcoholemia mediante determinación de etanol en aire espirado.

BACKGROUND: People and authorities are worried about interferences in breath alcohol measurements. The influence of different inhalers on breath alcohol tests is analysed in this paper. PATIENTS AND METHOD: We included 60 patients treated with different inhalers. They underwent a breath alcohol test before treatment and 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 min after it. RESULTS: Every medication led to positive readings within the first minutes of its administration. However, all values reached zero at 10 min. Patients administered higher doses and those who did not use a spacer device were found to have higher reading values. CONCLUSIONS: Asthma inhalers, including those without alcohol contents, lead to positive readings of breath alcohol measuring devices within the first minutes. However, these interferences are no longer detected at 10 min.