Breathe: exploring respiratory health and exercise

Welcome to the June issue of Breathe!

This issue explores topics relating to respiratory health and exercise and I hope will make interesting reading for all of you that deal with dyspnoea in your patients on a day-to-day basis, whether they be athletes with high expectations of their performance or those whose breathlessness arises from disease or lack of fitness.

The excellent contributions from experts in the field provide practical insights and tips on dealing with some of the most difficult symptoms in respiratory practice and how to investigate and manage them. I am grateful to the authors for bringing so much thought and consideration to their respective subject areas. Additional features will be available as online exclusives, including reviews focusing on common causes of dyspnoea in athletes and the effects of exercise-based pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with COPD, as well as further case reports. Please make sure you come back to us frequently to read, download and share this material (breathe.ersjournals.com).

With this issue, we would all like to say farewell to our colleague and friend, David Sadler, who has been the managing editor of Breathe for the past 6 years. We wish David well in the future and I, for one, remain indebted to him for his assistance and introduction to the exciting world of publishing. At the same time, I would like to welcome our new managing editor, Alice Bartlett. We look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration.

Regular and new features

Our Landmark papers series continues in this issue as do our other regular features; hopefully you are finding they provide useful references and challenges! In addition, we have an inspirational interview with Agnes Boots in the Confidences de Salon and I hope that the Meet the Assemblies pieces are enabling you to discover more about the work of the various Assemblies of the ERS.

I would also like to highlight the paper by Murphie and colleagues [1] looking at the economic impact of oxygen delivery and respiratory care in Scotland. This study documents not only the organisation of services to our sickest patients that we sometimes take for granted, but also explores the economic impact of self-fill/non-delivery oxygen systems. It is my opinion that the study will contribute significantly to our understanding of future health delivery strategies in this area.

Case report competition

Please, don’t forget the case report competition!

The interactive case report remains a fundamental part of our portfolio for Breathe and we look forward to reviewing submissions. Case reports that are not included in the printed edition of Breathe will be published online as part of our expanding presence and can still be accessed and referenced via PubMed Central ensuring they reach a large audience.

As always, my thanks go to all the contributors to this issue, as well as the hard-working editorial team who put the breath into Breathe.

Wishing you a sunny, relaxing summer and happy reading!