1. Is COPD a Progressive Disease? A Long Term Bode Cohort Observation
- Author
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de-Torres, Juan P., Marín, Jose M., Pinto-Plata, Víctor, Divo, Miguel, Sanchez-Salcedo, Pablo, Zagaceta, Jorge, Zulueta, Javier J., Berto, Juan, Cabrera, Carlos, Celli, Bartolome R., and Casanova, Ciro
- Subjects
Medicine and Health Sciences ,Pulmonology ,Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ,Biology and Life Sciences ,Physiology ,Physiological Properties ,Physiological Parameters ,Body Weight ,Body Mass Index ,Bioassays and Physiological Analysis ,Respiratory Analysis ,Spirometry ,Pharmacology ,Clinical Pharmacology ,Pathology and Laboratory Medicine ,Progressive Diseases ,Cardiovascular Medicine ,Cardiovascular Diseases ,Database and Informatics Methods - Abstract
Background: The Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Diseases (GOLD) defines COPD as a disease that is usually progressive. GOLD also provides a spirometric classification of airflow limitation. However, little is known about the long-term changes of patients in different GOLD grades. Objective: Explore the proportion and characteristics of COPD patients that change their spirometric GOLD grade over long-term follow-up. Methods: Patients alive for at least 8 years since recruitment and those who died with at least 4 years of repeated spirometric measurements were selected from the BODE cohort database. We purposely included the group of non survivors to avoid a “survival selection” bias. The proportion of patients that had a change (improvement or worsening) in their spirometric GOLD grading was calculated and their characteristics compared with those that remained in the same grade. Results: A total of 318 patients were included in the survivor and 217 in the non-survivor groups. Nine percent of survivors and 11% of non survivors had an improvement of at least one GOLD grade. Seventy one percent of survivors and non-survivors remained in the same GOLD grade. Those that improved had a greater degree of airway obstruction at baseline. Conclusions: In this selected population of COPD patients, a high proportion of patients remained in the same spirometric GOLD grade or improved in a long-term follow-up. These findings suggest that once diagnosed, COPD is usually a non-progressive disease.
- Published
- 2016
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