September 2022

Peer Reviewed Feature Articles
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Occupational and environmental lung disease

Occupational lung diseases: why an occupational history is important

Hayley Barnes, Ryan Hoy

Taking an occupational history is often overlooked, but should be performed in any patient presenting with respiratory symptoms or disease. Identifying contributory exposures can improve outcomes for individual patients and have important public health implications through improving unsafe work practices.

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Diagnostics and procedures

Pulmonary nodules: evaluation in general practice

Tracy L. Leong, Fraser Brims

Incidental pulmonary nodules are often benign, but some may represent early-stage lung cancer that is potentially curable. Consideration of patient and nodule characteristics can determine the probability of a nodule being malignant and help guide management.

Peer Reviewed Regular Series
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Focus on COVID-19

The short and the long of it: asthma control and COVID-19 in children

Cassidy Du Berry, Shivanthan Shanthikumar, Sarath Ranganathan

Children with well-controlled asthma appear to be at no greater risk of contracting COVID-19 or of having severe disease. However, emerging data suggest that children with poorly controlled asthma are more likely to be hospitalised for COVID-19.

Free Access
Free access
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Perspectives

Oral corticosteroid stewardship in asthma: an urgent issue

John Politis, Philip Bardin, John Blakey

Oral corticosteroid treatment for asthma is widely prescribed in Australia but can cause significant side effects. There is a growing need for oral corticosteroid stewardship and more focus on improving asthma control using other strategies.

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Perspectives

E-cigarettes: an update

Greta Beale, Emily Stone

The use of e-cigarettes in Australia has been increasing, especially among young people. Consumers now require a prescription to purchase vaping products. Clinicians can be guided by findings from a recent systematic review evaluating their associated harms and the evidence for their role in smoking cessation.

Briefings