2023 Canadian Thoracic Society Guideline on Pharmacotherapy in Patients With Stable COPD.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patient care must include confirming a diagnosis with postbronchodilator spirometry. Because of the clinical heterogeneity and the reality that airflow obstruction assessed by spirometry only partially reflects disease severity, a thorough clinical evaluation of the patient should include assessment of symptom burden and risk of exacerbations that permits the implementation of evidence-informed pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions. This guideline provides recommendations from a comprehensive systematic review with a meta-analysis and expert-informed clinical remarks to optimize maintenance pharmacologic therapy for individuals with stable COPD, and a revised and practical treatment pathway based on new evidence since the 2019 update of the Canadian Thoracic Society (CTS) Guideline. The key clinical questions were developed using the Patients/Population (P), Intervention(s) (I), Comparison/Comparator (C), and Outcome (O) model for three questions that focuses on the outcomes of symptoms (dyspnea)/health status, acute exacerbations, and mortality. The evidence from this systematic review and meta-analysis leads to the recommendation that all symptomatic patients with spirometry-confirmed COPD should receive long-acting bronchodilator maintenance therapy. Those with moderate to severe dyspnea (modified Medical Research Council ≥ 2) and/or impaired health status (COPD Assessment Test ≥ 10) and a low risk of exacerbations should receive combination therapy with a long-acting muscarinic antagonist/long-acting ẞ2-agonist (LAMA/LABA). For those with a moderate/severe dyspnea and/or impaired health status and a high risk of exacerbations should be prescribed triple combination therapy (LAMA/LABA/inhaled corticosteroids) azithromycin, roflumilast or N-acetylcysteine is recommended for specific populations; a recommendation against the use of theophylline, maintenance systemic oral corticosteroids such as prednisone and inhaled corticosteroid monotherapy is made for all COPD patients.

eHealth in Self-Managing at a Distance Patients with COPD.

Worldwide, healthcare delivery for chronic diseases has been challenging due to the current SARS-COV-2 pandemic. The growing use of information and communication technologies via telehealth has gained popularity in all fields of medicine. In chronic respiratory diseases, self-management, defined as a structured but personalized multi-component intervention with the main goal of achieving healthy behavioral change, is an essential element of long-term care. Iterative interventions delivered by a well-trained health coach in order to empower and provide the patient with the tools and skills needed to adopt sustained healthy behaviors have proven to be effective in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Benefits have been shown to both improve patient quality of life and reduce acute exacerbation events and acute healthcare utilization. In COPD, the evidence so far has shown us that remote technologies such as telemonitoring or remote management may improve patient-reported outcomes and healthcare utilization. However, clear limitations are still present and questions remain unanswered. More and better designed studies are therefore necessary to define the place of eHealth in self-managing at a distance in patients with COPD.

Impact of continuous positive airway pressure mode on adherence to treatment in obstructive sleep apnea patients awaiting bariatric surgery.

Obstructive sleep apnea is prevalent in the bariatric population, and is associated with various complications. Despite increasing popularity, automatic positive airway pressure has not yet been studied in this population. The objective was to compare treatment adherence between automatic positive airway pressure and fixed positive airway pressure (continuous positive airway pressure) in obstructive sleep apnea patients awaiting bariatric surgery. This randomized controlled trial involved obese patients newly diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea and awaiting bariatric surgery. The primary outcome was the difference in adherence between automatic positive airway pressure and continuous positive airway pressure pre-operatively. Secondary outcomes included positive airway pressure efficacy, adherence at 1 month, adverse effects, quality of life and peri-operative complications. Analyses were conducted using a modified intention-to-treat methodology. Fifty patients were randomized. Baseline characteristics and duration of positive airway pressure therapy were comparable between groups. At the time of surgery, the percentage of overall nights positive airway pressure used was 96.9% [95% confidence interval: 93.5-100] and 86.0% [95% confidence interval: 66.9-100] in the automatic positive airway pressure and continuous positive airway pressure groups, respectively (p = .047). Average use was 6.3 hr per night [95% confidence interval: 5.1-7.2] and 5.9 hr per night [95% confidence interval: 3.0-8.8], with a difference of 0.4 hr favouring automatic positive airway pressure (p = .75). Nightly use ≥ 4 hr per night was 86.4% and 74.0% in the automatic positive airway pressure and fixed continuous positive airway pressure groups, respectively (p = .22). There were no statistically significant differences regarding adherence at 1 month, efficacy parameters, adverse effects, quality of life and peri-operative complications. With no difference on the safety profile and efficiency parameters, treatment adherence is not improved with automatic positive airway pressure compared with fixed continuous positive airway pressure in obstructive sleep apnea patients awaiting bariatric surgery.