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Our home is a place of refuge and protection, where we spend an average of 80 % of our time. Indoor air quality is an essential element that directly influences the health and well-being of individuals. The main sources of indoor pollution are human activity, which releases not only fine particles and carbon monoxide, but also volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A growing number of studies show a relationship between respiratory pathologies such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma or Sick Building Syndrome, and exposure to VOCs. The aim of this article is to explore the relationship between VOCs and respiratory diseases, as well as the strategies to prevent their effect on health., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

Measurement of blood eosinophils helps identify COPD patients at increased risk of acute exacerbation who would benefit from the initiation of maintenance therapy with inhaled corticosteroids. This strategy has been included into the GOLD recommendations. Would there be an interest in measuring blood eosinophils to manage COPD exacerbations? Recently, strategies using blood eosinophil count have been developed to better target the group of patients with exacerbations who respond to systemic corticosteroid therapy and also to limit its prescription when the risk/benefit ratio is unfavorable., Competing Interests: I. Guerreiro a reçu des honoraires de conférencier et d’Advisory Board d’AstraZeneca, GSK, Sanofi. Les autres auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

Dyspnoea in chronic respiratory disease is a very frequent symptom with a significant impact on quality of life (QoL). The aim of palliative care is to improve and maintain the QoL of patients with life-threatening diseases and its early implementation is now recommended in many evolving pulmonary diseases. The effectiveness of symptomatic treatments to relieve refractory breathlessness (morphine, oxygen supply, hypnosis, pulmonary rehabilitation) is often limited. These measures are more effective if offered early in the holistic management of the patient. This article illustrates and describes, with the help of a clinical situation, these treatments options and the collaborations established between the palliative care and pneumology divisions., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

The respiratory consequences of cannabis inhalation remain poorly understood. The main challenges are the biases due to the combined consumption of tobacco and to the various consumption modalities. While some similarities can be drawn between cannabis and tobacco, such as certain carcinogenic components present in their smoke, as well as the clinical chronic bronchitis, the pulmonary repercussion of these two substances differ in several aspects. It should be remembered that research on cannabis benefits from less hindsight than that of tobacco and concerns a younger population, opening up the need for further research. This article aims to offer an overview of current knowledge., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

Hypoxemia is defined as a decreased oxygen partial pressure in arterial blood. This frequent clinical phenomenon can lead to tissue hypoxia and requires a prompt diagnostic approach to guide its management. Five pathophysiological mechanisms should be assessed in the presence of hypoxemia: alveolar hypoventilation, ventilation/perfusion mismatches, diffusion disorders, true shunts and a decrease in the partial pressure of inspired oxygen. In this article, we synthesize the main etiologies of hypoxemia based on respiratory pathophysiology and suggest a diagnostic approach for its evaluation., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is effective to improve shortness of breath, health status and exercise capacity. Telerehabilitation uses information and communication technologies to deliver rehabilitation program from a distance. A Cochrane review published in 2021 shows its equivalence to conventional pulmonary rehabilitation. The confinement induced by the COVID-19 pandemic has made patients with respiratory failure even more fragile and vulnerable, promoting the development of telerehabilitation. This article describes its modalities, sets out the scientific evidence for its effectiveness and develops perspectives for its development., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

In this review of the recent medical literature, we have identified 4 topics of interest for the readers of Revue Médicale Suisse. Use of antifibrotic drugs in interstitial lung diseases will soon be extended to a phenotype labeled « progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease » (PF-ILD). While awaiting for evidence-based treatment, consensual recommendations for a treatment algorithm in pulmonary sarcoidosis has been published. New guidance for non-invasive ventilation in COPD and obesity-hypoventilation syndrome are available in Switzerland and are in line with international recommendations. New treatments targeting CFTR protein activity have become available and could become a therapeutic option for up to 85% of cystic fibrosis patients in Switzerland., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous group of chronic respiratory diseases which phenotyping is less codified as for asthma yet as essential. The phenotype helps to better understand the evolution of the disease, punctuated by exacerbations and favors a better targeting for treatments and clinical work-up. The latest studies, mostly based on the ECLIPSE and SPIROMICS cohorts, highlight the importance of the search for eosinophilia and the complete assessment of cardiovascular comorbidities. This article will discuss the role of lung function, exacerbations, biomarkers, and comorbidities in COPD phenotyping., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.