Perspectives on global epidemiology challenges: iPVD Virtual Symposium series

The pathology of primary pulmonary hypertension was first described by Ernest Romberg in 1891 when he referred to histopathologic findings as pulmonary arterial sclerosis [1]. In the 1920s, Ayerza's Disease was described in a series of patients from Argentina with the proposed etiology being syphilis; this was subsequently disproven [2].

Data about pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients living in low- and middle-income countries remain scarce. This study assessed prognostic factors associated with time to clinical worsening (CW) or death of a cohort of PAH patients in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Current risk assessment of pulmonary embolism (PE) stratifies patients based on hemodynamic stability, clinical parameters of severity, right ventricular dysfunction and cardiac injury but fails to integrate a wide variety of comorbid conditions. The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) predicts mortality based on patients' diseases and provides a system to quantify disease burden. 

Pollution and climate change constitute a combined, grave and pervasive threat to humans and to the life-support systems on which they depend. Evidence shows a strong...