International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2015
A score to predict short-term risk of COPD exacerbations (SCOPEX).
There is no clinically useful score to predict chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. We aimed to derive this by analyzing data from three existing COPD clinical trials of budesonide/formoterol, formoterol, or placebo in patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD and a history of exacerbations in the previous year. ⋯ SCOPEX incorporates easily identifiable patient characteristics and can be readily applied in clinical practice to target therapy to reduce COPD exacerbations in patients at the highest risk.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2015
Is asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease associated with walking endurance in patients with COPD?
Symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is associated with impaired walking endurance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, it is unknown whether asymptomatic PAD is associated with impaired walking endurance in patients with COPD. ⋯ Asymptomatic PAD is not associated with walking endurance in patients with COPD. Therefore, it is important to detect and treat asymptomatic PAD early so that COPD patients do not progress to become exercise intolerant. Limited by the small sample size and predominantly male (99%) population in the study, further large-scale prospective studies are needed to verify the results.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2015
Observational StudyRelationship between linear and nonlinear dynamics of heart rate and impairment of lung function in COPD patients.
In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), functional and structural impairment of lung function can negatively impact heart rate variability (HRV); however, it is unknown if static lung volumes and lung diffusion capacity negatively impacts HRV responses. We investigated whether impairment of static lung volumes and lung diffusion capacity could be related to HRV indices in patients with moderate to severe COPD. ⋯ Responses of HRV indices were more prominent during M-RSA in moderate to severe COPD. Moreover, greater lung function impairment was related to poorer heart rate dynamics. Finally, impaired lung diffusion capacity was related to an altered parasympathetic response in these patients.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2015
Comparative StudyThe COPD assessment test correlates well with the computed tomography measurements in COPD patients in China.
The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment test (CAT) is a validated simple instrument to assess health status, and it correlates well with the severity of airway obstruction in COPD patients. However, little is known about the relationships between CAT scores and quantitative computed tomography (CT) measurements of emphysema and airway wall thickness in COPD patients in the People's Republic of China. ⋯ CAT scores correlate well with the quantitative CT measurements in COPD patients, which may provide an imaging evidence that the structural changes of the lungs in this disease are associated with the health status measured by CAT.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2015
Forecasting COPD hospitalization in the clinic: optimizing the chronic respiratory questionnaire.
Forecasting hospitalization in patients with COPD has gained significant interest in the field of COPD care. There is a need to find simple tools that can help clinicians to stratify the risk of hospitalization in these patients at the time of care. The perception of quality of life has been reported to be independently associated with hospitalizations, but questionnaires are impractical for daily clinical use. Individual questions from valid questionnaires can have robust predictive abilities, as has been suggested in previous reports, as a way to use patient-reported outcomes to forecast important events like hospitalizations in COPD. Our primary aim was to assess the predictive value of individual questions from the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire Self-Assessment Survey (CRQ-SAS) on the risk of hospitalization and to develop a clinically relevant and simple algorithm that clinicians can use in routine practice to identify patients with an increased risk of hospitalization. ⋯ We identified three themes - fear of breathlessness, dyspnea with basic activities of daily living, and depressive symptoms - as important patient-reported outcomes to predict hospitalizations, and propose a short and easy algorithm to forecast hospitalizations in patients with COPD.