PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratios of laryngeal height, lung function, and diagnostic questionnaires for screening and diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS We undertook a cross-sectional study of 233 people aged between 40 and 75 years. Measured variables were age, sex, weight, h...

BACKGROUND Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity in the elderly population. COPD leads to a reduced health-related quality of life (HRQL), but the factors which contribute to this are not well understood. A better understanding of the factors which determine HRQL should lead to an improved care for such patients. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to...

BACKGROUND The COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) assessment test (CAT) is a recently introduced, simple to use patient-completed quality of life instrument that contains eight questions covering the impact of symptoms in COPD. It is not known how the CAT score performs in the context of clinical pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programmes or what the minimum clinically important differe...

OBJECTIVE To investigate differences in clinical features between tobacco smoke-induced and biomass fuel-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS We retrospectively analyzed 206 patients with COPD caused by exposure to tobacco smoke and 81 cases of COPD caused by exposure to biomass fuels who received treatment in our hospital between 2011 March and 2014 March. Difference...

BACKGROUND Preliminary evidence suggests individuals with COPD exhibit deficits in balance. Further investigation of balance and risk of falls is warranted in these patients. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical measures that discriminate fallers from non-fallers among patients with COPD. METHODS A cross-sectional study design was used. Subjects>60 years with COPD attende...

BACKGROUND Acute exacerbations are major drivers of COPD deterioration. However, limited data are available for the prevalence of severe exacerbations and impact of asthma on severe exacerbations, especially in patients with mild-to-moderate COPD. METHODS Patients with mild-to-moderate COPD (≥40 years) were extracted from Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (2007-2012...

INTRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE EFFORT ON CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE LUNG DISEASE: Exacerbation Risk Index Cohorts (ICE COLD ERIC) is a prospective cohort study with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients from Switzerland and The Netherlands designed to develop and validate practical COPD risk indices that predict the clinical course of COPD patients in primary care. This paper...

Inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting β2-agonist combination therapy is recommended in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients at high risk of exacerbations. The EFFECT (Efficacy of Fluticasone propionate/FormotErol in COPD Treatment) trial is a Phase III, 52-week, randomized, double-blind study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of two doses of fluticasone propionate/formoterol com...

asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd) are highly prevalent chronic diseases in the general population. both are characterized by similar mechanisms: airway inflammation, airway obstruction, and airway hyperresponsiveness. however, the distinction between the two obstructive diseases is not always clear. multiple epidemiological studies demonstrate that in elderly people with o...