Publications by Dr Johanna Feary

“NEWS2” as an Objective Assessment of Hospitalised COPD Exacerbation Severity

In their published article, Alif et al report the findings from a carefully conducted longitudinal study showing the effects of occupational exposures on lung function decline between the ages of 45 and 50 years.

Silicosis due to artificial stone (AS) has emerged over the last decade as an increasing global issue. We report the first eight UK cases. All were men; median age was 34 years (range 27–56) and median stone dust exposure was 12.5 years (range 4–40) but in 4 cases was 4–8 years. One is deceased; two were referred for lung transplant assessment. All cases were dry cutting and polishing AS worktops with inadequate safety measures. Clinical features of silicosis can closely mimic sarcoidosis.

Purpose of review There is an unmet need for better immunological tests in cases of suspected occupational asthma to many workplace chemicals; here we consider the basophil activation test (BAT), a potential alternative to the detection of specific IgE antibodies.

Recent findings BAT is fairly widely used in general allergy services; and there is increasing experience of its use in the diagnosis of occupational allergy to low molecular weight agents and chemicals including wood dusts, persulphates, antibiotics and latex.

We report a 23 year old female with biallelic truncating variants in the ITCH (Itchy E3 Ubiquitin protein ligase, mouse homolog of; OMIM60649) gene associated with marked short stature, severe early onset chronic lung disease resembling asthma, dysmorphic facial features, and symmetrical camptodactyly of the fingers but normal intellect.

This British Thoracic Society (BTS) Clinical Statement addresses occupational asthma and includes key clinical practice points. In an era in which medical practice is increasingly determined by evidence-based guidelines, it must be acknowledged from the outset that there is little or no published evidence for some of the areas covered in this statement; thus, much of the advice is based on expert opinion and accumulated clinical experience.

Asthma is the most common respiratory disorder in the UK, yet we have incomplete knowledge on the prevalence of current disease, treatment and exacerbations.

We used UK electronic healthcare records, 2006–2016, to estimate the prevalence of current asthma by year, sex and age (<5, 5–11, 12–17, 18–24, 25–54 and ≥55 years), and the proportion prescribed inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and additional asthma therapy, treated for exacerbations and other asthma care markers.

Currently the National Asthma and COPD audit programme (NACAP) only undertakes audit of COPD primary care in Wales due to its near complete data coverage. We aimed to determine if the quality of COPD primary care in the other UK nations is comparable with Wales.