European Respiratory Society International Congress 2017:highlights from the Clinical Assembly

This article contains highlights and a selection of the scientific advances from the European Respiratory Society's Clinical Assembly (Assembly 1 and its six respective groups) that were presented at the 2017 European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy. The most relevant topics from each of the groups will be discussed, covering a wide range of areas including clinical problems, rehabilitation and chronic care, thoracic imaging, interventional pulmonology, diffuse and parenchymal lung diseases, and general practice and primary care. In this comprehensive review, the newest research and actual data as well as award-winning abstracts and highlight sessions will be discusse

ERS/EAACI statement on adherence to international adult asthma guidelines

Clinical practice guidelines based on the best available evidence, aim to standardize and optimize asthma diagnosis and management. Nevertheless, there are concerns that particularly between different groups of healthcare professionals (HCPs), adherence to guidelines is suboptimal. Further to these concerns, the aims of this ERS/EAACI Statement were (1) via an international online survey, to evaluate and compare the understanding of and adherence to international asthma guidelines by HCPs of different specialties, (2) via systematic reviews of the literature, to assess effectiveness of strategies focused at improving implementation of guideline-recommended interventions, and compare process and clinical outcomes in patients managed by Specialists (respiratory physicians or allergists) or Generalists (internists or general practitioners). The online survey identified discrepancies between HCPs of different specialties which may be due to poor dissemination or lack of knowledge of the guidelines but also a reflection of the adaptations HCPs working in different clinical settings make, based on their resources. The systematic reviews demonstrated that multifaceted quality improvement initiatives addressing multiple challenges to guidelines adherence, or the input from additional specialized HCPs are most effective in improving guidelines adherence. More data are needed to evaluate differences in process and clinical outcomes among patients managed by Generalists or Specialists. Our results reveal a need for guidelines to consider the heterogeneity of real-life settings for asthma management and tailor their recommendations accordingly. Continuous, multifaceted quality improvement processes are required to optimize and maintain guidelines adherence. Validated referral pathways for uncontrolled asthma or for uncertain diagnosis are needed

Clinical highlights from the 2016 European Respiratory Society International Congress

This article contains highlights and a selection of the scientific advances from the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Clinical Assembly (Assembly 1) and its six respective groups (Groups 1.1–1.6) that were presented at the 2016 ERS International Congress in London, UK. The most relevant topics for clinicians will be discussed, covering a wide range of areas including clinical problems, rehabilitation and chronic care, thoracic imaging, interventional pulmonology, diffuse and parenchymal lung diseases, and general practice and primary care. In this comprehensive review, the newest research and actual data will be discussed and put into perspective

Annual paper mulberry pollen count time-series for the years 2004–2018.

Each line represents a separate year. The main pollen seasons (periods with the highest pollen concentrations) are recorded between 10th and 31st March. Pollen concentrations rise again slightly between July and August during and after the summer rain.</p

Fig 3 -

Mean Absolute Error (MAE) calculated over various time intervals using their corresponding meteorological data for the start day prediction under the 2.5% and 5% start day criteria: (A) the various starting points (B) the various ending points. The number of total combinations considered in this brute force optimization was 11 × 56. Only the combinations of starting points yielding the best ending points (and vice versa) are shown. This was only done for the training years as the testing years were reserved to evaluate the performance of the algorithm.</p

Pictorial representation of the pollen prediction system.

Here MPS denotes the Main Pollen Season (the time of the year with the highest pollen concentration).</p

The box plot of candidate heat units for the peak day after all filtration has been performed including removal of the entries whose relative standard deviation is higher than 50% across years.

The red dots show M, the mean values that will be used as the required heat units.</p

Mean Absolute Error (MAE) values for various durations of meteorological data for the peak day prediction under the 2.5% and 5% start day criteria.

This was done only for the training years as the testing years were reserved to evaluate the performance of the algorithm.</p

Mean Absolute Error (MAE) for the start and peak days of the testing years using the linear regression and phenological modelling approaches under the 5% and 2.5% start day criteria of main pollen season (MPS).

Mean Absolute Error (MAE) for the start and peak days of the testing years using the linear regression and phenological modelling approaches under the 5% and 2.5% start day criteria of main pollen season (MPS).</p