Positive airway pressure is recognised as the first-line treatment for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in many countries because of its low risks and high efficacy. Unfortunately, between 30% and 40% of OSA patients cannot tolerate positive airway pressure1 2 and may consider other options, including surgery. The most common surgical treatment is isolated palate surgery (often one of the available uvulopalatopharyngoplasty techniques, with tonsillectomy for patients with palatine tonsils). Palate surgery has demonstrated improvements in measures of sleep-disordered breathing severity, such as the apnoea-hypopnea index (AHI),3 and has been associated with clinical benefits, such as improved quality of life,4 reduction in cardiovascular events5 and decreased mortality6 in c...

Conclusions Our results show that age is the most important predictor of death within both of these early postoperative periods. We used the data in the NLCA to develop a predictive score, based on an English population and specific to lung cancer surgery, which estimates risk of death within 90 days; this score should be tested in future cohorts. (Source: Thorax)

This randomised, double-blind placebo control trial from New Zealand looked at the use of azithromycin in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis and aimed to assess its effect on exacerbation frequency, lung function and health-related quality of life. The trial enrolled 141 participants and randomly assigned them to receive either azithromycin 500 mg three times a week for 6 months, or placebo, with a follow up period of 1 year. Groups were well matched in terms of baseline characteristics. The co-primary endpoints were rate of exacerbations, change in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and change in total score on a St Georges Respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ). The azithromycin group experienced a statistically significant decrease in the rate of exacerbations requirin...

Conclusions All smoking cessation services had low emissions compared to the health gains produced. Text message support had the lowest emissions of the services evaluated. Smoking cessation services have small carbon footprints and were cost-effective after accounting for the societal costs of greenhouse gas emissions. (Source: Tobacco Control)