Are occupational exposures associated with worse morbidity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease?
Accounting for smoking, occupational exposure was associated with COPD risk and, for those with established disease, shorter walk distance, greater breathlessness, worse quality of life, and increased exacerbation risk. Clinicians should obtain occupational histories from patients with COPD because work-related exposures may influence disease burden.
At a time of heightened public concern regarding flu but little disease prevalence, EDs experienced substantial increases in patient volumes. These increases were significant and comparable to the increases experienced during the subsequent epidemic of actual disease.