Thorax最新文献

Objectives: Eosinophilic bronchiectasis is defined by a blood eosinophil count (BEC) ≥300 cells/µL, but blood eosinophils imperfectly reflect airway eosinophilic inflammation. Here, we investigated the relationship between eosinophilic airway inflammation, blood eosinophils and clinical severity in bronchiectasis and explored the phenotype associated with eosinophilic bronchiectasis.

Methods: Sputum from 180 patients with stable CT-confirmed bronchiectasis was utilised to investigate airway levels of eosinophil proteins (eosinophil peroxidase (EPX), eosinophil derived-neurotoxin (EDN), eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), major basic protein (MBP) and Galectin-10 (Gal-10)) using a novel stable isotope dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay. To profile eosinophilic bronchiectasis, a nested analysis of patients with BEC <150 cells/µL (n=52) and ≥300 cells/µL (n=49) was conducted.

Results: Sputum concentrations of Gal-10, ECP and EDN were weakly but significantly associated with radiological severity, FEV₁ and sputum culture positivity for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Airway eosinophil protein concentrations did not associate with exacerbation frequency. Total eosinophil protein concentration moderately correlated with BECs (r=0.33 95% CI 0.14 to 0.49, p=0.0007). Nested analysis revealed increased sputum PCR-positivity for P. aeruginosa (26.7% vs 7.7%, p=0.033) and an increased frequency of patients showing signs of Aspergillus sensitisation (defined as Aspergillus-specific IgE titres >0.35 kUA/L, 24.5% vs 3.8%) in eosinophilic bronchiectasis. Sputum inflammatory biomarkers and clinical parameters did not differ between groups.

Conclusions: LC-MS/MS can detect eosinophilic inflammation within bronchiectasis sputum. Weak associations between elevated airway eosinophil proteins, bronchiectasis severity and P. aeruginosa infection were observed. Direct measurement of eosinophilic airway inflammation provides additional information in addition to BECs. Eosinophilic bronchiectasis associated with P. aeruginosa infection and Aspergillus sensitisation.

Background: The 2025 British Thoracic Society (BTS) Winter Meeting delivered 3 days of cutting-edge science, clinical innovation and networking in wintry Westminster. Over 2500 attendees from 36 countries gathered to share advances shaping the future of respiratory medicine.

Content: The programme opened with a session focused on emerging clinical trial data, showcasing pragmatic and mechanistic studies designed to address real-world challenges in respiratory care, setting the tone for a meeting focused on impact and innovation.Translational research featured strongly throughout the meeting, with organoids, precision-cut lung slices and air-liquid interface cultures providing new perspectives on disease mechanisms and therapeutic targets. Early career investigators presented discoveries in eosinophilic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease biology, microbiome-driven viral susceptibility and resistance risks in novel bronchiectasis therapies, while midcareer leaders advanced understanding of familial interstitial lung disease and virus-host interactions.Plenary sessions tackled pressing challenges, from air pollution and breathlessness diagnostics to genetic drivers of pulmonary hypertension, complemented by guest lectures on immune regulation, vaccine-preventable illness and drug discovery. Additionally, the meeting highlighted workforce transformation, emphasising the role of nurses, allied health professionals and pharmacists in delivering integrated, digitally enabled care.

Conclusion: Reminding us that progress rests on both scientific endeavour and enduring professional bonds, the 2025 BTS Winter Meeting reaffirmed that respiratory research is for everyone-an essential driver of advancement across disciplines. Multidisciplinary working and inclusive engagement will be key to shaping future care and ensuring that innovation translates into better outcomes for patients worldwide.

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes substantial winter pressure on adult services. In the UK, RSV vaccination currently targets adults aged ≥75 years and care home residents; it remains uncertain whether this age criterion alone meaningfully discriminates risk of poor outcome among adults hospitalised with RSV.

Methods: We pooled three UK hospital cohorts (one prospective, two retrospective) of adults admitted with acute respiratory infection (ARI) and PCR-confirmed RSV. The primary outcome was intensive care unit/high dependency unit (ICU/HDU) admission or all-cause mortality within 60 days. Prespecified predictors (age, sex and comorbidities) entered a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) penalised logistic regression; selected variables were refitted using standard logistic regression. Discrimination, calibration and decision-analytic performance were assessed using 1000-bootstrap internal validation and decision-curve analysis.

Results: Among 334 adults, 37 (11.1%) experienced the primary outcome. An age-only rule mirroring current UK vaccine age-eligibility (≥75 years) demonstrated only modest discrimination (optimism-adjusted area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) 0.58, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.65) and a compressed distribution of predicted risks. A four-predictor model-including age, COPD, active/previous cancer and dementia-achieved higher discrimination AUC (0.77 (0.69 to 0.85)), a wider spread of predicted risks and the greatest net benefit across clinically plausible escalation thresholds (5-20%).

Conclusions: In adults hospitalised with RSV-associated ARI, simple age-based heuristics-including the UK ≥75-year threshold-showed only modest ability to discriminate risk of ICU/HDU admission/60-day mortality once hospitalised. Comorbidity-inclusive approaches may provide more informative hospital-level risk stratification and warrant evaluation in future RSV vaccine-effectiveness and outcome studies. Any application requires external validation, more systematic RSV testing and comparison with physiology-based scores in larger, vaccinated cohorts.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and narcolepsy are estimated to affect approximately 4.8% and 0.047% of the UK population, respectively. We do not know how many people have been diagnosed or how this varies over time and by demographic factors.

Methods: We, therefore, conducted a historical population-based descriptive study estimating prevalence and incidence of diagnosed OSA and narcolepsy in England from 2000 to 2019 stratified by demographic factors, and compared estimates to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Data were from Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) primary care records linked to Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) admissions. The study population included people with ≥90 days follow-up between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2019, no prior record of primary or central sleep apnoea, and aged ≥18 years (OSA only). Diagnoses were defined using the first coded record for each condition in CPRD or HES data. Annual prevalence was estimated at mid-year and directly age/sex-standardised to the national population. Incidence was estimated by dividing new diagnoses by total person-time at risk.

Results: In England, 2019 adult standardised diagnosed OSA prevalence was 1.40% (95% CI 1.40% to 1.41%) representing approximately 622 528 people; standardised narcolepsy prevalence was 0.020% (95% CI 0.019% to 0.021%) representing approximately 11 307 people. Despite increases over time, diagnosed incidence and prevalence remained substantially lower than published estimates of symptomatic frequency. Rates varied by age, sex, ethnicity and UK nation for both conditions, and urban-rural living, area-based deprivation and practice size for OSA.

Conclusion: Our results call for high-quality research to drive initiatives that increase diagnosis rates and address variation.

Background: Spirometry is a measure of lung function used to make clinical decisions regarding the diagnosis and management of respiratory conditions. The goal of spirometry interpretation is to relate impairments in mechanical lung function to pulmonary pathology. In many circumstances, interpretation of measured spirometric values relies on comparisons with a 'healthy' reference population. Such inferences assume that spirometric values in healthy populations follow a Gaussian distribution with impaired values concentrated in the lower tail.

Methods: We hypothesised that impairments in lung function mechanics generate spirometric values that follow a non-Gaussian distribution as predicted by extreme value analysis. We used a Gumbel distribution to model lung function impairment. We compared the Gaussian healthy distribution to the Gumbel impaired distribution to calculate the relative probability for impaired versus healthy values. The relative probability provides an objective measure of the likelihood that a particular spirometric value is within the healthy or impaired distribution.

Results: The potential usefulness of the relative probability was demonstrated in simulated cases, providing an objective delineation of the zone of uncertainty in the transition from normal to impaired lung function.

Conclusions: Considering the spirometric measures from people with lung function impairment as a separate distribution from people with healthy lung function provides a more analytic assessment of impairment. Applying extreme value analysis, the relative probability of a spirometric measurement being impaired versus healthy and a more precise definition of the zone of uncertainty potentially provides more objective discrimination of the intersection between the healthy and impaired lung function ranges.