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Introduction: Firefighters have increased risk of chronic respiratory disease. Standard clinical techniques used in medical checkups may not detect the earliest microstructural changes in peripheral airways. A new technique called Airspace Dimension Assessment (AiDA) has been shown to enable early detection of emphysema in COPD. This method may be useful in the occupational setting to detect early pulmonary changes and enable prevention. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether AiDA detects changes in the most peripheral airways of firefighters., Methods: AiDA, measuring the effective airspace radius ( r AiDA ) and zero-second recovery ( R 0 ), was used as a complement to other standardised lung function measures in 21 male firefighters and 16 age-matched male controls., Results: There were significant differences in r AiDA and R 0 between firefighters (mean±sd r AiDA 0.301±0.024 mm; mean±sd R 0 0.336±0.116 arbitrary units) and controls (mean±sd r AiDA 0.276±0.044 mm; mean±sd R 0 0.5760.168 arbitrary units), p=0.03 and p<0.001, respectively. Higher forced vital capacity was found in firefighters (mean 101% of predicted) than in controls (mean 93% of predicted; p=0.03). No significant differences were found with regard to either the ratio between forced expiratory volume in 1 s and forced vital capacity or forced expiratory volume in 1 s. The majority of firefighters had diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, oscillometry and single-breath nitrogen washout values within the normal ranges., Conclusion: AiDA parameters can provide information on early pulmonary peripheral changes that may not be seen with standard techniques used in screening of pulmonary function., Competing Interests: Competing interests: P. Wollmer and J. Löndahl have a patent issued for a “Device and method for pulmonary function measurements”. The other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright ©The authors 2023.)

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate occupational, environmental, early life and other risk factors associated with respiratory infections and antibiotics use in a general population and among asthmatic individuals., Method: This study included 15 842 participants of the Respiratory Health in Northern Europe (RHINE) study aged 25-54 years from five Nordic countries, who answered a questionnaire covering respiratory outcomes, exposures, demographic characteristics and numbers of infections and courses of antibiotics in the last 12 months. Multiple logistic regression with and without adjustment for age, sex, smoking status, body mass index and centre were used to study the risk of infection and antibiotics in relation to asthma, and also the association between infection and antibiotics and occupations., Results: In the whole population, 11.6% reported having three or more respiratory infections, and 14.7% had used antibiotics because of respiratory tract infections within the last year. Asthmatic participants reported tripled odds for such infections (adjusted OR 2.98, 95% CI 2.53-3.52) and antibiotics use (adjusted OR 3.67, 95% CI 3.18-4.24) as compared to non-asthmatic participants. Both in the general and the asthmatic population, female sex, obesity and exposure to building dampness were associated with respiratory infections. Female sex and current smoking and living in Tartu were associated with antibiotic use. The use of antibiotics was doubled in people hospitalised for severe respiratory infection in childhood., Conclusion: In this study we identified several factors associated with increased respiratory infections and use of antibiotics in a general population and among asthmatic individuals. The frequency of respiratory infections and subsequent antibiotic treatment were increased among those with asthma., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: M.A. Kisiel has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: X. Zhou has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: E. Björnsson has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: M. Holm has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Dahlman-Höglund has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: J. Wang has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: C. Svanes has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: D. Norbäck has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: K.A. Franklin has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Malinovschi has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Johannessen has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: V. Schlünssen has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: C. Janson has nothing to disclose., (Copyright ©The authors 2021.)