Virginia A. Schad, PharmD, RPh

The Epic Deterioration Index (EDI) can identify subsets of high- and low-risk patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

A collection of algorithms for detecting pulmonary arterial hypertension in administrative data has been developed to enhance the integrity and value of research findings and improve quality of care.

Mortality is higher in younger patients with COVID-19 compared with younger patients with influenza.

There appears to be a low risk of invasive fungal secondary infection, especially aspergillosis, in patients with SARS-CoV-2-related pneumonia and no underlying immunosuppression.

Duration-dependent beneficial effects of metformin, sulfonylurea, and thiazolidinedione use on COPD exacerbation have been observed in patients with COPD and diabetes.

Triple therapy with budesonide/glycopyrrolate/formoterol fumarate may reduce the risk of death compared with glycopyrrolate/formoterol fumarate in patients with COPD.

A high rate of mortality from COVID-19 was seen in patients with preexisting fibrotic idiopathic interstitial lung disease (ILD) compared with patients with other ILDs.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher risk of incident nontuberculous mycobacteria respiratory isolation in adults with cystic fibrosis.

By broadly defining respiratory failure to include an increase in oxygen requirements, a conservative initial IV fluids resuscitation strategy did not correlate with decreased rates of hypoxemic respiratory failure in sepsis.

Close monitoring of patients with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease and awareness of the variable course of progression is highly important in considering when to initiate treatment.

The accuracy of an integrated classifier in patients with indeterminate pulmonary nodules with a pretest probability for malignancy of at least 0% was confirmed.

Investigators assessed the outcomes of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 and liver injury.

The effects of positive end expiratory pressure in COVID-19-related acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are similar to those reported in classical ARDS.

Crisaborole was found to be safe and efficacious for treatment in patients with mild to moderate atopic dermatitis.

Dupilumab significantly reduced severe asthma exacerbations and improved prebronchodilator FEV1 in patients with baseline FeNO greater than or equal to 25 ppb with/without substantial FeNO reduction.

Dupilumab demonstrated the greatest clinical benefit in patients with asthma who had elevated fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and blood eosinophil levels.

A substantial burden of exacerbations occur across increased blood eosinophil counts and total IgE levels in patients with severe asthma not receiving biologics or systemic corticosteroids.

Emerging evidence indicates that gastrointestinal and hepatic manifestations may play an important role in COVID-19, but their prevalence and significance remain unknown.

Lopinavir-ritonavir is not an effective treatment for patients admitted to the hospital with coronavirus disease 2019.

Clinicians should use caution when interpreting the guidelines for the diagnosis and detection of sarcoidosis and must consider unique individual clinical circumstances when managing these patients.

Use of cancer treatment guidelines is not in conflict with shared decision-making; therefore, increasing patients’ access to guidelines may improve the quality of oncologic care.

Pneumomediastinum, although a rare phenomenon, is more prevalent in patients with COVID-19 compared with historical patients with adult respiratory distress syndrome.

In patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, education is necessary to provide a better understanding of the role of palliative care in optimizing quality of life.

In settings where acid-fast bacilli pulmonary diseases are suspected, gastric aspirate culture may be helpful for diagnosing Mycobacterium avium complex and M kansasii pulmonary disease.

In patients hospitalized with COVID-19, thrombi in segmental pulmonary arteries are common and are located in opacitated lung segments, which may suggest local clot formation.

The findings of a preliminary analysis suggest that COVID-19 may not be characterized by cytokine storm and therefore the benefit of anticytokine therapies remains to be determined.

A position paper recently published by the National Pulmonary Embolism Response Team outlines an approach for diagnosing and treating pulmonary embolism in patients with COVID-19.

Bronchoalveolar lavage appears to be safe and well tolerated in individuals with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

In patients with COPD, lung methylation profiles differ according to the severity of airflow limitation and some epigenetic changes translate into specific gene expression changes in the lung.

Age may influence outcomes in lung transplant recipients with cystic fibrosis.