[Smoking cessation rate after passage in a smoking cessation clinic in patients referred by a respiratory medicine department]. / Taux de sevrage tabagique après prise en charge ambulatoire dans un centre d'aide aux fumeurs (CAF) chez des patients référés par un service de Pneumologie.

Responsible for a significant morbidity and mortality, smoking remains a major public health issue. Smoking cessation clinics are an integral part of the fight against smoking. This retrospective study, carried out between January 2022 and January 2023 on 106 patients who attended the smoking cessation clinics in the Respiratory Department of the University Hospital of Liège, was designed to assess patient cessation rates at 6 months and 1 year, and to identify any factors predicting success or failure. Our data showed a cessation rate of 25 % at 6 months and 19 % at 1 year. Age was slightly more advanced in those who succeeded in smoking cessation at one year (p = 0.05). The obtained cessation rate strongly supports the utility of our smoking cessation clinic for patients wishing to quit smoking.

Responsable d'une morbi-mortalité importante, le tabagisme reste un enjeu, non négligeable, de santé publique. Les consultations d'aide au sevrage font partie intégrante des moyens mis en œuvre pour lutter contre le tabagisme dans une optique de prévention. Cette étude rétrospective, menée entre janvier 2022 et janvier 2023, auprès de 106 patients ayant fréquenté les consultations de tabacologie du Service de Pneumologie du CHU de Liège, avait pour objectifs d'évaluer les taux de sevrage des patients à 6 mois et à 1 an et d'identifier d'éventuels facteurs prédictifs de succès, ou d'échec, au sein de l'échantillonnage étudié. L'analyse des données a démontré un taux de sevrage de 25 % à 6 mois et de 19 % à 1 an. L'analyse des facteurs démographiques montre une moyenne d'âge plus élevée chez les patients qui réussissent leur sevrage à 1 an (p = 0,05). Le taux de sevrage obtenu atteste de la pertinence et de la nécessité de notre accompagnement auprès des patients désireux de cesser de fumer.

[Dyspnea «sine materia¼]. / La dyspnée «sine materia¼.

Dyspnea is a symptom of respiratory discomfort commonly encountered in clinical practice which, in most of the cases, relates to a cardiopulmonary or a metabolic disorder. Its genesis is complex and results from numerous interactions within cortical and limbic brain areas following intero- and nociceptive stimuli. The term dyspnea «sine materia¼ points to a state where no clear underlying cardiopulmonary or metabolic pathology has been identified and we include here the hyperventilation syndrome and the physical deconditioning. Treatment of dyspnea «sine materia¼ is based on behavioural psychotherapy and on reathtletisation programme in case of physical deconditioning.

La dyspnée est un symptôme d'inconfort respiratoire extrêmement courant en médecine qui traduit, le plus souvent, un désordre cardiorespiratoire ou métabolique. Sa genèse est complexe et résulte de l'intégration, au niveau du cortex et du système limbique, de messages intéro- et nociceptifs. Par dyspnée «sine materia¼, nous entendons ici une dyspnée sans pathologie cardiorespiratoire ou métabolique sous-jacente avérée et nous y incluons celle du syndrome d'hyperventilation et du déconditionnement physique. La prise en charge de la dyspnée «sine materia¼ et, notamment, celle du syndrome d'hyperventilation repose sur la psychothérapie comportementale et la gestion du déconditionnement physique par des programmes de réathlétisation.

Positive Effects of Vitamin D Supplementation in Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Retrospective studies showed a relationship between vitamin D status and COVID-19 severity and mortality, with an inverse relation between SARS-CoV-2 positivity and circulating calcifediol levels. The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of vitamin D supplementation on the length of hospital stay and clinical improvement in patients with vitamin D deficiency hospitalized with COVID-19. The study was randomized, double blind and placebo controlled. A total of 50 subjects were enrolled and received, in addition to the best available COVID therapy, either vitamin D (25,000 IU per day over 4 consecutive days, followed by 25,000 IU per week up to 6 weeks) or placebo. The length of hospital stay decreased significantly in the vitamin D group compared to the placebo group (4 days vs. 8 days; p = 0.003). At Day 7, a significantly lower percentage of patients were still hospitalized in the vitamin D group compared to the placebo group (19% vs. 54%; p = 0.0161), and none of the patients treated with vitamin D were hospitalized after 21 days compared to 14% of the patients treated with placebo. Vitamin D significantly reduced the duration of supplemental oxygen among the patients who needed it (4 days vs. 7 days in the placebo group; p = 0.012) and significantly improved the clinical recovery of the patients, as assessed by the WHO scale (p = 0.0048). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the clinical outcome of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization was improved by administration of vitamin D.

The SARS-CoV-2 viral load in COVID-19 patients is lower on face mask filters than on nasopharyngeal swabs.

Face masks and personal respirators are used to curb the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory droplets; filters embedded in some personal protective equipment could be used as a non-invasive sample source for applications, including at-home testing, but information is needed about whether filters are suited to capture viral particles for SARS-CoV-2 detection. In this study, we generated inactivated virus-laden aerosols of 0.3-2 microns in diameter (0.9 µm mean diameter by mass) and dispersed the aerosolized viral particles onto electrostatic face mask filters. The limit of detection for inactivated coronaviruses SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-NL63 extracted from filters was between 10 to 100 copies/filter for both viruses. Testing for SARS-CoV-2, using face mask filters and nasopharyngeal swabs collected from hospitalized COVID-19-patients, showed that filter samples offered reduced sensitivity (8.5% compared to nasopharyngeal swabs). The low concordance of SARS-CoV-2 detection between filters and nasopharyngeal swabs indicated that number of viral particles collected on the face mask filter was below the limit of detection for all patients but those with the highest viral loads. This indicated face masks are unsuitable to replace diagnostic nasopharyngeal swabs in COVID-19 diagnosis. The ability to detect nucleic acids on face mask filters may, however, find other uses worth future investigation.