Today, the EPA released an inadequate proposed rule that fails to protect the health of the American public from the life-threatening effects of common daily exposures to the air pollutant, particulate matter.
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This World AIDS Day, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member, is calling on the health care community to increase lung cancer screening for people with HIV who are current or former heavy smokers and may be at high risk for developing the disease. As HIV- infected individuals have high smoking rates, smoking cessation should also be encouraged.
This World COPD Day, Nov. 16, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member, is supporting “Your Lungs for Life” – the campaign for a lifelong focus on keeping lungs healthy as an integral part of future health and well-being.
This World Pneumonia Day, Nov. 12, 2022, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member, is calling on governments and other stakeholders to take urgent action to tackle pneumonia - focusing on those who are at greatest risk of severe illness.
George Alba, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard has been named the inaugural American Thoracic Society/American Lung Association/American College of Chest Physicians-Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program Scholar.
Today’s data from the CDC Youth Tobacco Survey provides alarming, disappointing, but unsurprising news: more kids are using e-cigarette products. This news is alarming in that half a million more kids reported using e-cigarettes products and taking their first step towards a lifetime of nicotine addiction. It is unsurprising that candy and sweetened, flavored e-cigarettes continue to drive the youth nicotine market. Flavors are essential to lure kids into tobacco use. Remove the flavors and the vast majority of these kids will never start using e-cigarette.
The American Thoracic Society recognizes race is a social construct, not a clinical or biologic construct, and is committed to reducing health disparities and addressing racism in clinical decision-making in medicine.
The Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS), a coalition of 48 specialty societies representing more than 800,000 physicians across healthcare, has awarded 11 member specialty societies grants of $100,000 each to promote diagnostic excellence across the field of medicine. The American Thoracic Society is one of the grant recipients.
On World Lung Day, Sept. 25, 2022, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member, calls on governments worldwide to address stark global inequalities in respiratory health.
On Tuesday Sept. 7, 2022, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Affordable Care Act's US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) violates the U.S. Constitution's Delegations Clause and is unconstitutional. Under the Affordable Care Act, preventive services that receive an A or B grade rating from the USPSTF must be offered by health insurance providers – at no cost to patients. This ruling jeopardizes the availability and affordability of a wide range of preventive health services currently enjoyed by millions of Americans.
The American Thoracic Society Research Program today announced the six recipients of the Non-Profit Partner Grants for the 2021-2022 grant cycle. These grants are awarded through partnerships with the American Lung Association, CHEST Foundation, COPD Foundation, and the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research.
The American Thoracic Society Research Program today announced the five recipients of Unrestricted Grants for the 2021-2022 grant cycle. These grants support research in critical care pulmonary and sleep medicine, the three pillars of the Society. Each recipient is awarded $40,000 because they rose to the challenge regarding providing novel approaches to how some lung diseases are managed, as well as fostering health care quality and improving patient outcomes.
In support of the first World Bronchiectasis Day, July 1, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies – of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member – is joining the COPD Foundation and several global organizations in raising awareness and sharing information about this lesser-known lung disease.
For climate change, June 2022 has been a busy month. It brought unprecedented flooding in Yellowstone National Park, a severe heat wave with life threatening temperatures in the southwestern U.S. and wildfires, which destroyed lives as well as property across the country.
Speaking on behalf of the American Thoracic Society, ATS President Gregory Downey, MD, ATSF, issued a statement in response to the historic Supreme Court decision to roll back Roe v Wade:
After people took to the streets across the U.S. this past weekend to protest the recent rash of mass shootings, there was good news out of Washington, DC: news of an agreement in the Senate spelled progress on gun regulation. Speaking on behalf of the American Thoracic Society, ATS President Gregory Downey, MD, ATSF, issued the following statement today.
On World No Tobacco Day, May 31, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a member, is voicing concerns over the tobacco industry’s impact on environmental health and ultimately lung health.
Brensocatib did not improve the clinical status of patients hospitalized with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection in the double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled STOP-COVID19 multicenter clinical trial, according to research published at the ATS 2022 international conference.
Patients with severe COVID-19 who were given imatinib had lower mortality rates at 90-day follow-up, according to research published at the ATS 2022 international conference.
Avacopan was better than prednisone in reducing respiratory as well as ear, nose and throat (ENT) involvement and enabled reduced glucocorticoid use in ANCA-associated vasculitis patients participating in the phase 3 ADVOCATE trial. Study results were published at the ATS 2022 international conference. The study was a subgroup analysis of results from the larger trial, which led to FDA approval of avacopan.
The first study to look at follow-up for patients deemed at high risk for lung cancer after CT screening found that 47 percent delayed follow-up care, according to research published at the ATS 2022 international conference.
Today at its annual Membership Meeting, the slate of officers to serve on the American Thoracic Society’s Executive Committee for the 2021-2022 term were approved by the membership.
One of the legacies of “redlining” may be higher incidence and mortality rates of COVID-19 affecting the largely minority and poor residents of these neighborhoods, according to research published at the ATS 2022 international conference. ” Redlining is a Great Depression-era federal policy in which neighborhoods with large ethnic/racial minority groups were denied federal resources.
A greater proportion of patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma had more significant clinical responses to tezepelumab than placebo, according to research published at the ATS 2022 international conference. The study showed that nearly half of those enrolled achieved complete response to treatment across measures of exacerbation reduction, asthma control, lung function, and clinician assessment.
Hospitalized children covered by Medicaid who reside in the poorest neighborhoods are at increased risk of being admitted to the hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and of dying while there, according to research published at the ATS 2022 international conference. The researchers also found higher mortality rates among Black children treated in PICUs.
A significant percentage of Black men found to have normal lung function after race-based adjustments to spirometry were actually found to have emphysema on their computed tomography (CT) scans, according to research published at the ATS 2022 international conference.
E-cigarette makers are adding potentially dangerous levels of the synthetic cooling agents WS-3 and WS-23 to disposable e-cigarettes and e-cigarette refills sold in the U.S., according to research published at the ATS 2022 international conference.
The American Thoracic Society is pleased to announce this year’s winners of the ATS Fellowship in Health Equity and Diversity Award: Aaron Baugh, MD, of the University of California San Francisco; and Jamuna Krishnan, MD, MBA, BS of Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
Almost four years since the last guidance on the diagnosis and management of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the American Thoracic Society – in collaboration with the European Respiratory Society, Japanese Respiratory Society and Asociacion Latinoamericana de Torax – has issued new guidelines for clinicians. The guidelines are available online in the May 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
On this World Asthma Day, May 3, 2022, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member, calls on international respiratory communities to work together with colleagues, patients, communities and health care providers to close the gaps in asthma care.
This year marks 50 years since it came to light that the nation’s leading public health agency, the Public Health Service, conceived an unethical “research study” - the Tuskegee Experiment – that lasted for 40 years. The participants? Black men in a rural community in the South who existed in a state of quasi-slavery, making them extremely vulnerable and the agency’s treatment of them that much more sickening.
Get a sneak-peak at what’s coming up at the ATS 2022 International Conference later this month with today’s online release of the Abstract Issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Higher levels of silica dust can be found in the lung tissue of contemporary coal miners compared to the lung tissue in previous generations of coal miners, according to a new study in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society. The study helps explain the recent increase in severe pneumoconiosis – often referred to as black lung disease – concentrated in central Appalachia (West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky) miners.
The ATS 2022 International Conference is coming back strong! Whether you cover clinical medicine or research, the programming at ATS 2022 is an extensive roundup of the latest in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine.
In support of World TB Day, March 24, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member, calls on the tuberculosis community to challenge ourselves to think differently, champion science and embrace evidence-based innovation if we are to end TB.
The ATS 2022 International Conference Program is now live! After two years of virtual conferences, ATS 2022 promises to bring you a dynamic, expansive offering of scientific content in pulmonary, critical care and sleep. Join us in San Francisco, California starting May 13*.
In the latest update to the pulmonary function tests technical standard series, the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society address the uncertainty around the interpretation of the tests which are essential in determining the extent of respiratory dysfunction. The update was recently published in the European Respiratory Journal ahead of a planned webinar series by the ATS.
After two years of virtual conferences, the ATS 2022 International Conference will be live and in-person. San Francisco will play host to the largest gathering of scientists and clinicians in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine.
In a new study published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, researchers examined whether sleep disordered breathing (primarily obstructive sleep apnea) during pregnancy and in the years after delivery is associated with an increased risk for hypertension and metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome consists of a cluster of conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
The American Thoracic Society, the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) and the American Lung Association are pleased to announce that they are partnering to sponsor a scholar in pulmonary and critical care medicine in the prestigious Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP), a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative.
Jan. 31, 2022 – Today, the Environmental Protection Agency took an important step towards reducing mercury and other toxic air pollutants in America’s air. The EPA released a proposed ruling stating that it is “necessary and appropriate” for them to require further reductions in mercury and air toxic emissions from industrial point sources of pollution in the U.S.
New York, NY – Jan. 26, 2022 –This week, 17 leading medical organizations and U.S. public health leaders submitted an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court in the case West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, urging the justices to affirm the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change and have been proven to inflict major health problems.
Global lung health organizations from the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia join together to announce the declaration of World Bronchiectasis Day on July 1, 2022, to raise awareness of bronchiectasis and its increased prevalence in many countries.
As health care organizations focused on respiratory health, our missions demand that we actively address those actions which could contribute to an increase in lung disease and risk to individual and community health. We collectively objected to and campaigned against the highly unethical and inappropriate takeover of an inhaled medicines company by a tobacco company. Despite our best efforts, we are terribly disappointed that shareholders, regulators, and the UK government allowed this acquisition to be approved. This is just the latest example of tobacco companies diversifying into health care and we are very concerned about the implications for patients, scientists, and doctors.