BACKGROUND Exposure to airborne fungi has been related with exacerbation of asthma in adults and children leading to increased outpatient, emergency room visits, and hospitalizations. Hypersensitivity to these airborne fungi may be an important initial predisposing factor in the development and exacerbation of asthma. OBJECTIVE This study was conducted to determine an association between fung...

Measurements: The primary outcome was time to first exacerbation. Secondary outcomes were exacerbation rate, time to first hospitalization, time to second exacerbation, FEV1, quality of life, and death. Results: Mean serum 25-(OH)D levels increased significantly in the vitamin D group compared with the placebo group (mean between-group difference, 30 ng/mL [95% CI, 27 to 33 ng/mL]; P 0.001). Th...

BACKGROUND Left-ventricular dysfunction associated with COPD exacerbation is frequently underestimated. We tested whether finger plethysmography waveform change during the Valsalva maneuver could aid in the distinction between patients with COPD exacerbation with and without left-ventricular dysfunction. METHODS We included 102 subjects with COPD exacerbation and 51 subjects with acute heart ...

RATIONALE Increased bacterial concentration (load) in the lower airways and new bacterial strain acquisition have been posited as mechanisms for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. Bacterial concentrations are higher during exacerbation than during stable disease; however, these studies are cross sectional and devoid of strain typing. OBJECTIVES To determine if the inc...

OBJECTIVES Asthma exacerbation, associated with many risks factors, can reflect management failure. However, little is known about how risk factors are associated with exacerbation, according to asthma severity. We aimed to investigate differences in risk factors in patients with different asthma severity and evaluate whether risk factors differed between frequent exacerbators and patients with...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE COPD exacerbation is characterized by worsening of symptoms, warranting change in treatment. Systemic and airway inflammation play roles in the pathogenesis of COPD exacerbation. We hypothesized whether increased serum inflammatory biomarkers are associated with the clinical outcomes of COPD exacerbation caused by different infectious pathogens. METHODS COPD patients ...

BACKGROUND The objective of the study is to develop a scoring system for predicting a 90-day re-exacerbation in hospitalized patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). METHODS A total of 176 consecutive hospitalized patients with AECOPD were included. The sociodemographic characteristics, status before acute exacerbation (AE), presentations of and tre...

Background and objective Guidelines recommend the use of simple but comprehensive tools such as COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) to assess health status in COPD patients. We aimed to compare the ability of CAT and CCQ to predict exacerbation in COPD patients. Methods We organized a multicenter prospective cohort study that included COPD patients. The relationsh...

BACKGROUND In patients with COPD, self-management skills are important to reduce the impact of exacerbations. However, both detection and adequate response to exacerbations appear to be difficult for some patients. Little is known about the underlying process of exacerbation-related self-management. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify and explain the underlying process of exa...

INTRODUCTION This study investigated the hypothesis that common environmental chemical exposures with known irritant or sensitising properties trigger exacerbations for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS We conducted a case cross-over study in 168 patients with COPD who were members of a disease management group in central Massachusetts. Participants completed...