International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
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Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are associated with accelerated disease progression and are important drivers of health care resource utilization. The study aimed to quantify the rates of COPD exacerbations in England and assess health care resource utilization by severity categories according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) 2013. ⋯ Patients in the most severe category (GOLD D) experienced nearly three times the number of exacerbations and COPD-related hospitalizations as those in the least severe category (GOLD A), in addition to increased general practitioner visits. Better patient management to stabilize the disease progression could allow for an improvement in exacerbation frequency and a reduction in health care resource utilization.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2016
Comparative StudyCut-off value of FEV1/FEV6 as a surrogate for FEV1/FVC for detecting airway obstruction in a Korean population.
Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/forced expiratory volume in 6 seconds (FEV6) has been proposed as an alternative to FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC) for detecting airway obstruction. A fixed cut-off value for FEV1/FEV6 in a Korean population is lacking. We investigated a fixed cut-off for FEV1/FEV6 as a surrogate for FEV1/FVC for detecting airway obstruction. ⋯ A valid fixed cut-off for detecting airway obstruction in a Korean population is FEV1/FEV6 of 75%, but should be used with caution in older individuals and those with mild-moderate airway obstruction.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2016
Comparative StudyVital capacity and COPD: the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study (SCAPIS).
Spirometric diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is based on the ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/vital capacity (VC), either as a fixed value <0.7 or below the lower limit of normal (LLN). Forced vital capacity (FVC) is a proxy for VC. The first aim was to compare the use of FVC and VC, assessed as the highest value of FVC or slow vital capacity (SVC), when assessing the FEV1/VC ratio in a general population setting. The second aim was to evaluate the characteristics of subjects with COPD who obtained a higher SVC than FVC. ⋯ The prevalence of COPD was significantly higher when the ratio FEV1/VC was calculated using the highest value of SVC or FVC compared with using FVC only. Subjects classified as having COPD when using the VC concept were more obstructive and with indications of air trapping. Hence, the use of only FVC when assessing airflow limitation may result in a considerable under diagnosis of subjects with mild COPD.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2016
Mortality associated with bone fractures in COPD patients.
COPD is well known to frequently coexist with osteoporosis. Bone fractures often occur and may affect mortality in COPD patients. However, in-hospital mortality related to bone fractures in COPD patients has been poorly studied. This retrospective study investigated in-hospital mortality of COPD patients with bone fractures using a national inpatient database in Japan. ⋯ COPD patients with hip fractures had higher mortality than COPD patients with other types of fracture. Surgery for hip fracture was associated with lower mortality than conservative treatment.
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Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis · Jan 2016
Speckle tracking echocardiography in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and overlapping obstructive sleep apnea.
COPD and congestive heart failure represent two disease entities of growing global burden that share common etiological features. Therefore, we aimed to identify the degree of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in COPD as a function of COPD severity stages and concurrently placed particular emphasis on the presence of overlapping obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). ⋯ To conclude, COPD itself seems to be accompanied with decreased LV deformation properties that worsen over COPD severity stages, but do not vary in case of overlapping OSA.