Association between severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung function tests

Introduction: The burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is quite high and its prevalence is increasing. We aimed to evaluate the correlation of COPD severity according to the ATS criteria with their spirometric measurements in patients admitted to emergency ward.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 50 randomly selected patients with COPD attending to emergency ward in a tertiary care center were evaluated. The COPD severity according to the ATS criteria was measured and its association with spirometric findings was evaluated. The statistical analysis was performed by SPSS software and the Kendall's tau-b correlation test.Results: The mean age (±standard deviation) was 64.3 ± 11.3 years. Twelve percent were female and 88 percent were male. The COPD severity, according to the ATS criteria, was mild in 16%, moderate in 48%, severe in 32% and very severe in four percent. There was a statistically significant correlation between total lung capacity (TLC) and COPD severity (P=0.013, r=275). Besides, there was a statistically significant correlation between functional residual capacity (FRC) and COPD severity (P=0.022, r=255). Age, sex, and the other spirometric findings especially FEV1 and FVC had no association with COPD severity (P > 0.05).Conclusion: According to the obtained results, it is concluded that determining the COPD severity according to the ATS criteria may help the physicians to estimate the patients' prognosis and therapeutic planning. However the spirometric measurements may not be replaced by ATS criteria.Key words: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Severity, Spirometery, American Thoracic Society (ATS

Effectiveness of Borage plus syrup (BPS) on COVID-19 patients in intensive care units

Introduction: COVID-19 (coronovirus disease-2019) still causes a high rate of death globally with no definite curative treatment described. The traditional plant Borage (Borago officinalis L.) is a good source of gamma-linolenic (GLA). We hypothesized that Borage plus syrup (BPS) would be beneficial in severe COVID-19 patients within an intensice care unit (ICU) setting. Methods: A pilot single centre, randomized trial with no placebo was undertaken. 60 PCR-positive severe COVID-19 participants admitted to ICU from June 2020- Dec 2020 at Masih Daneshvari Hospital Tehran-Iran gave informed consent. The participants were randomly assigned to either Borage Plus Syrup (BPS, 5ml for 5 days) (n=30) or standard care (IFN- and favipiravir) as a control group (n=30). Pao2/Fio2, serum ferritin, CRP, bilirubin, IL-6, TNF-α, ALT, AST, PCT and serum IL-8 was measured upon admission and on release. Results: All the measured parameters decreased significantly with BPS treatment . In the control group, most parameters significantly improved apart from AST and PCT. In addition, the suppression of serum TNF levels in the BPS group was greater than that seen in the control group (P≤0.05). Moreover, the length of ICU stay was significantly lower in the BPS group compared with the control group (P≤0.05). Conclusion: Our study shows that addition of BPS to the standard treatment regime of COVID-19 patients in ICU improved outcomes and reduced the length of ICU treatment. Natural products could be considered as new approaches for reducting the harmful consequences of COVID-19

ESICM LIVES 2016: part two : Milan, Italy. 1-5 October 2016.

Meeting abstrac