Prevalence of asthma and its association with rhinitis in the elderly

BACKGROUND: Asthma and rhinitis are frequent respiratory diseases in children and adults. Despite the increase in the aging population, there are few epidemiologic data on both diseases in the elderly. So far, no population-based study has analyzed the association between asthma and rhinitis symptoms and severity in this age group. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma in the population aged ≥65 years in mainland Portugal and to evaluate its association with the presence and classification of rhinitis according to ARIA recommendations, in this age group. METHODS: A cross-sectional, nationwide, population-based survey of individuals aged ≥65 years, living in mainland Portugal was performed. RESULTS: Data were obtained from 3678 respondents. The prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma was 10.9% (95% confidence interval (95%CI) 9.9-11.9). The frequency of asthma diagnosis increased with the number of nasal symptoms (p < 0.001). A strong association between asthma and rhinitis was found (odds ratio (OR) 13.86 (95%CI 10.66-18.02)). The strength of this association increased with the persistence and severity of rhinitis, being particularly high in elderly subjects with moderate-severe persistent rhinitis (OR 39.9 (95%CI 27.5-58.0)). CONCLUSIONS: Asthma is common in the elderly and strongly associated with rhinitis. The OR for asthma is especially high in persistent and severe ARIA classification rhinitis types. This study strengthens the need for an integrated assessment of asthma together with rhinitis in the elderl

Prevalence and classification of rhinitis in the elderly: a nationwide survey in Portugal

BACKGROUND: Nationwide epidemiologic data on rhinitis in the elderly do not exist. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of rhinitis in the population aged 65 years or above in mainland Portugal and to characterize and classify rhinitis in this age group. METHODS: Cross-sectional, nationwide, population-based survey of citizens aged 65 years or above, living in mainland Portugal. Current rhinitis (CR) was defined as the presence of at least two symptoms: 'repeated sneezing and itchy nose', 'blocked nose for more than one whole hour', or 'runny nose when not having a cold or flu', either usually or in the last 12 months. Rhinitis severity was assessed using a visual analogue scale; rhinitis was classified according to ARIA. RESULTS: Data were obtained from 3678 responders (92.5% response rate). The prevalence of CR was 29.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 28.4%-31.3%): 49.1% had mild intermittent, 7.0% mild persistent, 27.5% moderate-severe intermittent, and 16.4% moderate-severe persistent rhinitis. Only 38.6% of patients with CR had been physician diagnosed and 38.7% were under treatment for this disease in the previous year. Allergic conjunctivitis symptoms were referred by 68.6% of subjects with CR (rhinoconjunctivitis population prevalence, 20.5% (95% CI: 19.2%-21.8%)). CONCLUSIONS: Rhinitis and rhinoconjunctivitis are common but underdiagnosed and undertreated diseases in the geriatric population. This was the first nationwide epidemiological survey classifying rhinitis according to ARIA guidelines in this age group. More than 40% of old-age patients presented moderate-severe disease

Prevalence of asthma and its association with rhinitis in the elderly

Funding Information: Funding: Methodological support and field work was supplied by KeyPoint, Scientific Consultants. This study was supported by a Schering-Plough Pharma grant attributed to Sociedade Portuguesa de Alergologia e Imunologia Clinica (SPAIC).Background Asthma and rhinitis are frequent respiratory diseases in children and adults. Despite the increase in the aging population, there are few epidemiologic data on both diseases in the elderly. So far, no population-based study has analyzed the association between asthma and rhinitis symptoms and severity in this age group. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma in the population aged ≥65 years in mainland Portugal and to evaluate its association with the presence and classification of rhinitis according to ARIA recommendations, in this age group. Methods A cross-sectional, nationwide, population-based survey of individuals aged ≥65 years, living in mainland Portugal was performed. Results Data were obtained from 3678 respondents. The prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma was 10.9% (95% confidence interval (95%CI) 9.9-11.9). The frequency of asthma diagnosis increased with the number of nasal symptoms (p < 0.001). A strong association between asthma and rhinitis was found (odds ratio (OR) 13.86 (95%CI 10.66-18.02)). The strength of this association increased with the persistence and severity of rhinitis, being particularly high in elderly subjects with moderate-severe persistent rhinitis (OR 39.9 (95%CI 27.5-58.0)). Conclusions Asthma is common in the elderly and strongly associated with rhinitis. The OR for asthma is especially high in persistent and severe ARIA classification rhinitis types. This study strengthens the need for an integrated assessment of asthma together with rhinitis in the elderly.publishersversionpublishe

Underground testing : name-altering practices as probes in electronic music

Name-altering practices are common in many creative fields – pen names in literature, stage names in the performing arts, aliases in music. More than just reflecting artistic habits or responding to the need for distinctive brands, these practices can also serve as test devices to probe, validate, and guide the artists’ active participation in a cultural movement. At the same time, they constitute a powerful probe to negotiate the boundaries of a subculture, especially when its features are threatened by appropriation from the mass-oriented culture. Drawing evidence from electronic music, a field where name-altering practices proliferate, we outline dynamics of pseudonymity, polyonymy, and anonymity that surround the use of aliases. We argue that name-altering practices are both a tool artists use to probe the creative environment and a device to recursively put one’s creative participation to the test. In the context of creative subcultures, name-altering practices constitute a subtle but effective form of underground testing

Swimming obstructed by dead-water

In nautical literature, 'dead-water' refers to the obstructive effect encountered by ships moving in stratified water due to the ship generating waves on an interface that separates different water masses. To investigate the hypothesis that open water swimming may also be obstructed by an encounter of dead-water, possibly causing drowning, we performed two experiments that assess the impact of stratified water on swimming. In the first experiment, subjects made a single front-crawl stroke while lying on a carriage that was rolling just above the water surface. The gain in kinetic energy, as a result of the stroke, was far less in stratified than in homogeneous water. In the second experiment, four subjects swam a short distance (5 m) in homogeneous and in two different settings of stratified water. At the same stroke frequency, swimming in stratified conditions was slower by 15%, implying a loss in propulsive power by 40%. Although in nature stratification will be less strong, extrapolation of the results suggests that dead-water might indeed obstruct swimming in open water as well. This effect will be most pronounced during fair weather, when stratification of a shallow surface layer is most easily established. Our findings indicate that swimmers' anecdotal evidence on 'water behaving strangely' may have to be taken more seriously than previously thought. © 2008 Springer-Verlag

Studies in frictionally damped waves. December 1973.

Surface waves subject to linear frictional force originating from horizontal bottom stresses. Wave properties for this model are deduced. Theoretical refelction and transmission coefficients were found for these waves when incident to a depth discontinuity positioned normal to the wave crests. These results were compared with experimental ones and agreement was generally good, though there was some evidence of extraneous energy losses by turbulence at the discontinuity. A circular shelf model was considered with the theoretical results showing a large reduction in the "Q" of the resonance peaks when compared with the frictionless case. It was also found that, except at the lower frequencies, a large number of overlapping resonance peaks which were out of phase with one another occupied relatively narrow frequency band. Experiments using several frequencies carried out for the circular sill model and the results were in very good agreement with the theoretical ones

Metabolic phenotyping of saliva and urine in children with atopic asthma

Proteomic