Respiratory Health Equality in the United States. The American Thoracic Society Perspective

Most developed countries regulate prices for on-patent drugs, especially if they are publicly funded. Although theoretical reasons -and therefore shared justification - sexist to intervene, pricing schemes may differ considerably from one country to another, as well as in the course of time. In fact, the current focus has been shifting away from cost considerations (the manufacturer´s perspective) towards value considerations (the user/society perspective). With the support of the current legislation and the scarce empirical evidence available to date, it was concluded that in Spain the intervention does not respond to a value-based pricing approach, namely, the prices of new drugs do not reflect their therapeutic value relative to existing alternatives. Besides, the Spanish case was compared with Sweden and the United States.

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Evolution of Short-Course Antimicrobial Treatment of Tuberculosis in Children, 1951-1984

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.75.4.684 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 75 (4) ◽

pp. 684-686

Author(s):

Edwin L. Kendig

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Prospective Study ◽

Miliary Tuberculosis ◽

The United States ◽

Antimicrobial Treatment ◽

American Thoracic Society ◽

Short Course ◽

Drug Actions ◽

American Lung Association ◽

Tuberculosis In Children

Although the first unrecognized indication that short-course antimicrobial treatment of tuberculosis might be effective came in reports of tuberculous meningitis and miliary tuberculosis in children so treated by Lorber (1951 to 1956), the 1977 American Lung Association-American Thoracic Society recommendation for antimicrobial therapy of tuberculosis in adults still specified an 18-month course. The first prospective study on the short-course antimicrobial treatment of children in the United States was published in December 1983. The long delay before recognition of the practicability of short-course antimicrobial treatment of tuberculosis has probably been occasioned by ignorance of drug actions and the mechanisms involved.

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A Narrative Review of Occupational Air Pollution and Respiratory Health in Farmworkers

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18084097 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (8) ◽

pp. 4097

Author(s):

Kayan Clarke ◽

Andres Manrique ◽

Tara Sabo-Attwood ◽

Eric S. Coker

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Respiratory Health ◽

Minority Group ◽

The United States ◽

Narrative Review ◽

Dust Exposure ◽

Agricultural Crop ◽

Air Exposure ◽

Respiratory Illnesses

The agricultural crop sector in the United States depends on migrant, seasonal, and immigrant farmworkers. As an ethnic minority group in the U.S. with little access to health care and a high level of poverty, farmworkers face a combination of adverse living and workplace conditions, such as exposure to high levels of air pollution, that can place them at a higher risk for adverse health outcomes including respiratory infections. This narrative review summarizes peer-reviewed original epidemiology research articles (2000–2020) focused on respirable dust exposures in the workplace and respiratory illnesses among farmworkers. We found studies (n = 12) that assessed both air pollution and respiratory illnesses in farmworkers. Results showed that various air pollutants and respiratory illnesses have been assessed using appropriate methods (e.g., personal filter samplers and spirometry) and a consistent pattern of increased respiratory illness in relation to agricultural dust exposure. There were several gaps in the literature; most notably, no study coupled occupational air exposure and respiratory infection among migrant, seasonal and immigrant farmworkers in the United States. This review provides an important update to the literature regarding recent epidemiological findings on the links between occupational air pollution exposures and respiratory health among vulnerable farmworker populations.

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