Background Updated urticaria guidelines recommend that patients should be assessed for disease activity, severity, control, and quality of life at baseline and follow up. Regarding treatment, guidelines consider second generation antihistamines as the cornerstone in therapy for chronic urticaria (CU), while other drugs, such as omalizumab, are conceived as second-line alternatives. In regards to omalizumab, despite advances in the management of CU, there are still open questions about timing, dosing, and objective measures for clinical response. This study was designed to portray the use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in chronic urticaria management, as well as the effectiveness and treatment patterns of omalizumab in CU, as seen in a real-life setting in Latin America. Methods This is a retrospective observational study, involving 72 Latin American patients with chronic urticaria treated with omalizumab. Patient reported outcomes and treatment patterns, response, quality of life improvement and discontinuation were analyzed. Results From the 72 patients, 91.7% (n = 66) were assessed through PROs, where urticaria control test (UCT) was the most used (79.2%; n = 57). Overall, 80.0% (n = 44) responded to omalizumab at some point of the treatment. Omalizumab 300 mg was associated with earlier response compared to lower doses. Regardless of dosage, most patients assessed with CU-Q2oL improved quality of life (80.8%; n = 21). With respect to omalizumab discontinuation, 20.8% (n = 15) patients interrupted omalizumab before the 3rd month of treatment (p = .000). Conclusions The present study highlights how the use of PROs and omalizumab in Latin America differ from guidelines’ recommendations and clinical trials. Even though most patients were initiated under omalizumab 300 mg, most of them finished with lower doses. Regardless of dosage, most patients responded to omalizumab and improved quality of life at some point during treatment. However, such features were seen earlier with omalizumab 300 mg. Regarding treatment discontinuation, one-fifth of patients interrupted omalizumab before the third month.

Background: Anaphylaxis is a recognized public health issue. There is no doubt that food-induced anaphylaxis (FIA) has tremendous impact on the quality of life of patients and their families and increases direct and indirect costs. FIA is associated with increasing rates of emergency department admissions and hospitalizations and implies the risk of death. Morbidity epidemiological data are a key to tailor public | 1731 TANNO eT Al.

The Saharan Air Layer is a mass of hot, dry air laden with dust that forms over the Sahara and moves towards the Atlantic Ocean. This air mass contains soil dust particles emitted by the action of winds on the African continent. Between June and August, the large-scale patterns of wind circulation transport dust from the Sahara across the tropical North Atlantic Ocean,affecting parts of the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, even some regions of the United States, and the Mediterranean and Southern Europe. Between December and April, wind circulation patterns facilitate dust transportation from the Sahara to the northern parts of South America and the Amazon. This dust transportation a phenomenon of interest to geosciencesand public health because of the potential health impacts of dust dispersion and circulation in the atmosphere. Thus, we assessed the relationship between exposure to Saharan dust (SahD) and its implications for human health in the Americas. We performed a nonsystematic review in the PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE, and Scielo databases of studies published between 2000 and 2020 in Portuguese, English, French, or Spanish using the search words “Saharan dust,” or “mineral dust,” or “desert dust,” and “human health.” The available direct air pollutants measurements indicate that the pollution level in the cities affected on a constant and prolonged basis is high versus acceptable standards. Further, this review also showed that the negative health effects of SahD are sparsely studied in the Americas.

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El cambio climático es uno de los principales fenómenos que están ocurriendo y son responsables por emergencias sanitarias en todo el mundo. El cambio climático ha determinado un aumento en el número de incendios forestales, debido a la combinación de condiciones cálidas y secas, con vientos, deforestación e intervención humana. Los incendios forestales, provocados por causas naturales o antropogénicas, son considerados una de las perturbaciones naturales más extendidas en los ecosistemas forestales del mundo. Se estima que la exposición al material particulado PM2,5 liberadas durante los incendios forestales se encuentran asociado a 0,68 millones de muertes/año, la mayoría de ellas en niños menores de cinco años. El transporte de PM2.5 relacionado con los incendios forestales es de gran alcance y contribuye a la mala calidad del aire incluso después de las temporadas de incendios. La actividad de incendios forestales en 2021-2022 en algunas regiones del mundo fue en una escala mucho mayor que la vista anteriormente en el conjunto de datos del Servicio de Monitoreo de la Atmósfera de Copernicus (CAMS). Así, este documento presenta diferentes informes sobre incendios forestales ocurridos en diversas partes del mundo, especialmente en América Latina, durante los años 2019-2022.