Wednesday, September 08, 2004

It makes your voice sound cool too... Mix a bit of helium with your oxygen if you're suffering from asthma attacks. A British study showed significant improvement for asthmatics who used a mixture of 65 percent helium and 35 percent oxygen. Fewer than half as many patients in the He-O2 group (8 vs. 20 percent) needed to stay in intensive care for more than 4 days, and the He-O2 patients were seven times less likely to require mechanical ventilation (1 against 7 percent), he added. "These data support the use of (He-O2) as first line therapy for acute asthma," the team concludes. The article says another study recently indicated the mix is good for COPD too. 8:45:24 PM    comment [] Elementary asthma as school starts At least in New York, according to this press release: Asthma hospitalization rates for young children aged 5 to 9 are more than six times higher when they return to school in the fall than when they are on vacation in July, according to the American Lung Association of New York State and the American Lung Association of the City of New York. Rates for older children and adults also show a fall increase, but not as dramatically as among elementary school children. These patterns are consistent across New York City, New York State and the U.S. 1:15:54 PM    comment []

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