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SLEEP DISRUPTION ENDEMIC TO INTENSIVE CARE CENTERS?

Researchers found sleep disrupted and abnormal for the majority of 203 medical, surgical, and intensive care patients surveyed at the end of their stay. The investigators believe that the poor quality sleep stemmed, not from environmental noise, but from various human interventions at the centers, including the recording of vital signs, the collecting of blood, and required diagnostic testing. They advise critical care center directors to decrease human interruption of sleep for intensive care patients, especially at night. In that way, patients will get longer periods of consolidated sleep. The study appears in the April issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

THREE HOMELESS SHELTERS ARE MAJOR TUBERCULOSIS TRANSMISSION SITES

Three large homeless shelters in central Los Angeles were the transmission sites for 55 tuberculosis (TB) cases (70 percent) of 79 patients who were infected with similar disease strains. At one center, 595 persons were packed into three sleeping rooms, and another housed 98 occupants in one room. None of the shelters screened occupants for TB. Researchers noted that interventions such as chest X-rays and tuberculin skin testing could rapidly identify most infectious TB cases and significantly reduce disease

transmission. The investigators felt it was critical to identify subpopulations of patients who contribute significantly to the spread of TB. The study appears in the April issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

LONG-TERM, LOW-LEVEL AIR POLLUTION CAUSES RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS IN SWISS

After studying 9,651 adults (ages 18 to 60) at eight study sites, Swiss researchers concluded that long-term exposure to air pollution, even at low levels, is associated with higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms, especially breathlessness and chronic phlegm production. All participants had been living in the study sites for at least three years, and some much longer. Because of the high correlation between the three pollutants, which were carbon dioxide, total suspended particulates, and tiny pollutant particles, the investigators could not sort out the effects of a single pollutant. However, there was positive association between annual mean concentrations of the three pollutants and reported prevalences of chronic cough or phlegm production, breathlessness during the day or night, and labored, difficult breathing on exertion. The study appears in the April issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

For the complete text of the articles, see the ATS Journal Online Website at www.atsjournals.org. To request complimentary journalist access to the site, or to be put on a mailing list for a monthly ATS Media Memo and Â鶹´«Ã½ Briefs, please contact Lori Atkins at (212) 315-6442, by fax at (212) 315-6455, or by e-mail to [email protected].

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