Medical Bulletin 10/ January/ 2024

A new article published in the journal zoonoses, decodes the World Health Organization (WHO) “Global Tuberculosis Report 2024”. The report underscores the ongoing challenges and progress in the global fight against tuberculosis (TB). Despite a slowdown in the annual increase in TB cases and a decline in TB-related deaths, the disease remains a significant public health threat with 10.8 million new cases reported in 2023. The report reveals a persistently high burden of TB, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and highlights the escalating issue of drug-resistant TB. The report also emphasizes the critical need for increased funding, improved diagnostics, and more effective TB treatment regimens. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB control has been substantial, disrupting healthcare services and exacerbating existing challenges. This paper provides an in-depth interpretation of the report, analyzes global TB trends, updates the status of drug-resistant TB, discusses the intersection between TB and HIV, and summarizes the implications of the pandemic on TB control efforts. The report concludes with a call for intensified global action, including increased investment in research and innovation, to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals related to TB control. The stakes are high, but with concerted efforts, the goal of ending the TB epidemic is within reach.

Reference: Zhi Chen, Tao Wang and Jingli Du et al. Decoding the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2024: A Critical Analysis of Global and Chinese Key Data. Zoonoses. 2025. Vol. 5(1). DOI: 10.15212/ZOONOSES-2024-0061

A new study published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, suggest that varenicline, a prescription medication often used to help people stop smoking, and text message-based interventions can help people quit vaping.

In the quit-vaping review, the team of scientists pinpointed nine relevant randomized studies involving more than 5,000 participants. The researchers aimed to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of tools that have been tested to help individuals quit vaping.

The study found that programs designed to deliver support via text messages seem to be effective for young people aged 13 to 24. The prescription medication varenicline, commonly used to help people stop smoking, was potentially effective for adults trying to quit vaping. However, due to the limited number of studies, this evidence for both approaches was low certainty and, the researchers explain, needs to be investigated further.

The text-message approach offers a mix of motivational content, as well as content around social norms and tips for ways to quit vaping. “I think it’s clear that this approach helps young people,” Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and management in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences and a Cochrane editor. “The question is, is it going to help other populations?”

Hartmann-Boyce says more relevant studies are underway, and the issue will remain high priority with Cochrane. “This is a really early area of research,” she says. “This is a living, systematic review, and we’ll be searching for new evidence monthly and updating the review as it comes out, because we know that this research is evolving.”

People who drink coffee in the morning have a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a lower overall mortality risk compared to all-day coffee drinkers, according to research published in the European Heart Journal.

The study included 40,725 adults taking part in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2018. As part of this study, participants were asked about all the food and drink they consumed on at least one day, including whether they drank coffee, how much and when. It also included a sub-group of 1,463 people who were asked to complete a detailed food and drink diary for a full week.

Researchers were able to link this information with records of deaths and cause of death over a period of nine to ten years. Around 36% of people in the study were morning coffee drinkers (they primarily drank coffee before midday), 16% of people drank coffee throughout the day (morning, afternoon and evening) and 48% were not coffee drinkers.

Compared with people who did not drink coffee, morning coffee drinkers were 16% less likely to die of any cause and 31% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease. However, there was no reduction in risk for all-day coffee drinkers compared to non-coffee drinkers.

Morning coffee drinkers benefitted from the lower risks whether they were moderate drinkers (two to three cups) or heavy drinkers (more than three cups). Light morning drinkers (one cup or less) benefitted from a smaller decrease in risk.

Dr Lu Qi, HCA Regents Distinguished Chair and Professor at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, New Orleans, said: “This is the first study testing coffee drinking timing patterns and health outcomes. Our findings indicate that it’s not just whether you drink coffee or how much you drink, but the time of day when you drink coffee that’s important. We don’t typically give advice about timing in our dietary guidance, but perhaps we should be thinking about this in the future.

“This study doesn’t tell us why drinking coffee in the morning reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. A possible explanation is that consuming coffee in the afternoon or evening may disrupt circadian rhythms and levels of hormones such as melatonin. This, in turn, leads to changes in cardiovascular risk factors such as inflammation and blood pressure.

Reference: Xuan Wang, Hao Ma, Qi Sun, Jun Li, Yoriko Heianza, Rob M Van Dam, Frank B Hu, Eric Rimm, JoAnn E Manson, Lu Qi, Coffee drinking timing and mortality in US adults, European Heart Journal, 2025;, ehae871, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehae871

Childhood smoking before age 15 increases a person’s risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a new study. The study is published in the issue of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation. A previous study using data from the 2020 National Health Interview Survey showed that COPD was more prevalent in adults who began smoking prior to 15 years of age (childhood smoking) compared to those who began after 15 years of age, regardless of their current smoking status and lifetime cigarette use.

In this new study, the authors expanded on previous research and examined whether childhood smoking before age 15 increased the likelihood of a person developing COPD later in life, even after accounting for possible secondhand smoke exposure. The new research examined a nationally representative sample of adults 40 years of age and older from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study.

“Our study suggests that a person with a childhood smoking history has an increased risk of developing COPD, regardless of current smoking status, smoking duration, cigarette pack years and exposure to secondhand smoke,” said Laura M. Paulin, MD, M.H.S, a pulmonologist at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and senior author of the study. “Critical lung development occurs in childhood and early adolescence, making children’s lungs particularly susceptible to damage caused by cigarette smoking. These findings highlight the need for additional public health efforts to reduce, and ultimately prevent, childhood smoking.”

Reference: Ozga JE, Sargent JD, Steinberg AW, Tang Z, Stanton CA, Paulin LM. Childhood cigarette smoking and risk of COPD in older U.S. adults: a nationally representative replication study. Chronic Obstr Pulm Dis. 2024; 11(6): 549-557. doi: http://doi.org/10.15326/jcopdf.2024.0514