International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2014
Comparative Study Observational StudyExplaining the increased health care expenditures associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease among elderly Medicare beneficiaries with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a cost-decomposition analysis.
To estimate excess health care expenditures associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) among elderly individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and examine the contribution of predisposing characteristics, enabling resources, need variables, personal health care practices, and external environment factors to the excess expenditures, using the Blinder-Oaxaca linear decomposition technique. ⋯ Among elderly Medicare beneficiaries with COPD, the presence of GERD was associated with higher expenditures. Need factors primarily contributed to the differences in average health care expenditures, suggesting that the comanagement of chronic conditions may reduce excess health care expenditures associated with GERD.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2014
Comparative StudyHealth status in patients with coexistent COPD and heart failure: a validation and comparison between the Clinical COPD Questionnaire and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure (HF) are both common diseases that coexist frequently. Patients with both diseases have worse stable state health status when compared with patients with one of these diseases. In many outpatient clinics, health status is monitored routinely in COPD patients using the Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) and in HF patients with the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHF-Q). This study validated and compared which questionnaire, ie, the CCQ or the MLHF-Q, is suited best for patients with coexistent COPD and HF. ⋯ CCQ and MLHF-Q were both valid and reliable questionnaires for assessment of health status in patients with coexistent COPD and HF on the group level, and hence for research. However, in clinical practice, on the individual level, the characteristics of both questionnaires were not as good. There is room for a questionnaire with good evaluative properties on the individual level, preferably tested in a setting of patients with COPD or HF, or both.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialChronic disease self-management and exercise in COPD as pulmonary rehabilitation: a randomized controlled trial.
Both exercise and self-management are advocated in pulmonary rehabilitation for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The widely used 6-week, group-based Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) increases self-reported exercise, despite supervised exercise not being a program component. This has been little explored in COPD. Whether adding supervised exercise to the CDSMP would add benefit is unknown. We investigated the CDSMP in COPD, with and without a formal supervised exercise component, to address this question. ⋯ The CDSMP produced à small statistically significant increase in 6MWD. The addition of a single supervised exercise session did not further increase exercise capacity. Our findings confirm the efficacy of a behaviorally based intervention in COPD, but this would seem to be less than expected from conventional exercise-based pulmonary rehabilitation, raising the question of how, if at all, the small gains observed in this study may be augmented.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2014
ReviewProfile of fluticasone furoate/vilanterol dry powder inhaler combination therapy as a potential treatment for COPD.
Currently, there is no cure for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The limited efficacy of current therapies for COPD indicates a pressing need to develop new treatments to prevent the progression of the disease, which consumes a significant amount of health care resources and is an important cause of mortality worldwide. ⋯ Fluticasone furoate/vilanterol dry powder inhaler combination therapy has been shown to be effective in many controlled clinical trials involving thousands of patients in the regular treatment of stable COPD. This is the first once-daily combination of ultra-long-acting inhaled β2-agonists and inhaled glucocorticoids that is available for the treatment of stable COPD and has great potential to improve compliance to long-term regular inhaled therapy and hence to improve the natural history and prognosis of COPD patients.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2014
ReviewUpdate on the pathological processes, molecular biology, and clinical utility of N-acetylcysteine in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common and morbid disease characterized by high oxidative stress. Its pathogenesis is complex, and involves excessive oxidative stress (redox imbalance), protease/antiprotease imbalance, inflammation, apoptosis, and autoimmunity. Among these, oxidative stress has a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of COPD by initiating and mediating various redox-sensitive signal transduction pathways and gene expression. ⋯ With regard to the dose-dependent properties of NAC, two recent randomized controlled Chinese trials suggested that high-dose NAC (1,200 mg daily) can reduce exacerbations in patients with COPD, especially in those with an earlier (moderately severe) stage of disease, and also in those who are at high risk of exacerbations. However, there was no significant effect on symptoms or quality of life in patients receiving NAC. Further studies are warranted to investigate the effect of NAC at higher doses in non-Chinese patients with COPD.