Patrick Howlett

#hotoffthepress Occupational lung disease: what the general physician needs to know 👀 Occupational exposures: a common and preventable cause of lung disease. 1/6 cases of COPD and asthma worldwide are related to work @tweetpaddy @lungsatwork @jofeary sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Podcast: The troubling rise of artificial stone silicosis, with Dr. Johanna Feary ▶️ Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the… ▶️ Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2yBkBH… ▶️ Web: thoraxbmj.podbean.com/e/silicosis/ @KateDiomede @jofeary @TweetPaddy Paper here: thorax.bmj.com/content/79/10/…

Soooo much better over there

Daily reminder

For those who haven’t yet realised. The science is much better where the sky is bluer… it’s reminiscent of Twitter 5 years - all joy of the high seas without having to negotiate floating 💩

Choking to Death: Silica dust from India’s industries is killing its workers Read our latest cover story by @akhileshhpandey: caravanmagazine.in/health/silicos…

NEW PAPER! In this month's @WHOBulletin, a group of us from @UKAPTB have a paper calling for a platform trial to evaluate new drug resistant TB (DRTB) treatment regimens ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P… Here is a short thread outlining some of our key arguments [1/n]

In the same week as a Doctor gets struck off for blocking traffic the Starbucks CEO starts to commute by private jet … theguardian.com/environment/ar…. theguardian.com/business/artic…

Relationship between cumulative silica exposure and silicosis: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis @TweetPaddy thorax.bmj.com/content/early/…

Artificial stone silicosis arrives in the UK: a tragic case of history repeating thorax.bmj.com/content/early/…

Artificial stone silicosis: a UK case series @lungsatwork @RobinaCoker1 thorax.bmj.com/content/early/…

Research from Dr Patrick Howlett (@TweetPaddy) and Dr Jo Feary (@jofeary) calling for a reduction to occupational silica dust limits for miners and workers, and identifying the danger presented from artificial stone highlighted in today’s media coverage including @guardian 🗞️ theguardian.com/society/articl…

Paper link here: thorax.bmj.com/content/early/…

Slightly longer 🧵 ... Lots of policy globally based on narrative reviews + gov papers using opaque methods. We aimed for full transparency + up-to-date techniques (e.g. dose response meta-analysis)

Our @ThoraxBMJ meta-analysis of cumulative silica exposure + silicosis risk out today! TLDR; current UK permissible limits => high risks of silicosis esp in miners ⛏️. Halving limits would significantly reduce risk thorax.bmj.com/content/early/… @ImperialNHLI @ImperialMed @jofeary

**FINALLY** We believe enough evidence to support reduction in UK permissible limits, to bring in line with US + other European countries. Thanks to Jeffery Gan (@ImperialMed med studient!), Prof Lesosky and @jofeary for hard work

**IMPORTANT CAVEAT** Only 2 non-miners studies. There is likely huge heterogeneity in industry and dose-response relationship. See other article published today of devastating artificial stone silicosis in UK setting (thorax.bmj.com/content/early/…)