Abstract
Pneumotox was designed in 1997 to provide health professionals with a free, quick-access, regularly updated and maintained database on any respiratory disease. These features were thought to be essential, as some drug-induced respiratory diseases can progress quickly and can be immediatedly life-threatening. Hence, instant information at the point of care is needed. Therefore, Pneumotox is now accessible from any PC, Ipad, Android tablet and smartphone for free.
Methods: Pneumotox was fed with a backup list now amounting to of 17.700 references. All languages were considered. Papers received adequate keywording using internationally recognized classifications and wording of diseases. Accretion of articles from PubMed started in 1978. Relevant articles (n=5327) were included in the web-user side of Pneumotox. Search on Pneumotox was compared with search on Pubmed in selected situations.
Resultts: Crude number of reports were (Pneumotox vs. Pubmed) 'drug-induced pulmonary disease (5521/2451), drug-induced pleural effusion (628/92), methotrexate lung 529/481), drug-induced histopathology (2403/588), amiodarone pulmonary toxixity (744/574), drug-induced angioedema (261/99). Time spent to build a list of drugs causing a potentially fatal adverse reaction (acute interstitial lung disease, pulmonary edema/hemorrhage, acute airway obstruction, anaphylaxis), acute pulmonary hypertension, respiratory muscle paralysis, methemoglobinemia) was unquestionably shorter using Pneumotox compared to PubMed by several orders of magnitude.
Conclusion: The web resource Pneumotox presents extensive information on drug-induced respiratory disorders. This information is obtained in shorter times, compared to conventional sources.
- © 2013 ERS
