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Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may suffer from acute episodes of worsening dyspnea, often associated with increased cough, sputum, and/or sputum purulence. These exacerbations of COPD (ECOPDs) impact health status, accelerate lung function decline, and increase the risk of hospitalization. Importantly, close to 20% of patients are readmitted within 30 days after hospital discharge, with great cost to the person and society. Approximately 25% and 65% of patients hospitalized for an ECOPD die within 1 and 5 years, respectively. Patients with COPD are usually older and frequently have concomitant chronic diseases, including heart failure, coronary artery disease, arrhythmias, interstitial lung diseases, bronchiectasis, asthma, anxiety, and depression, and are also at increased risk of developing pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, and pneumothorax. All of these morbidities not only increase the risk of subsequent ECOPDs but can also mimic or aggravate them. Importantly, close to 70% of readmissions after an ECOPD hospitalization result from decompensation of other morbidities. These observations suggest that in patients with COPD with worsening dyspnea but without the other classic characteristics of ECOPD, a careful search for these morbidities can help detect them and allow appropriate treatment. For most morbidities, a thorough clinical evaluation supplemented by appropriate clinical investigations can guide the healthcare provider to make a precise diagnosis. This perspective integrates the currently dispersed information available and provides a practical approach to patients with COPD complaining of worsening respiratory symptoms, particularly dyspnea. A systematic approach should help improve outcomes and the personal and societal cost of ECOPDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses definition and nomenclature of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Topics include abnormal characteristics displayed by a group of living organisms by species at a biological disadvantage refined by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD); and alveolar abnormalities usually caused by significant exposure to noxious particles or gases and influenced by host factors including abnormal lung development.

Background: COPD prevalence is highly variable and geographical altitude has been linked to it, yet with conflicting results. We aimed to investigate this association, considering well known risk factors.Methods: A pooled analysis of individual data from the PREPOCOL-PLATINO-BOLD-EPI-SCAN studies was used to disentangle the population effect of geographical altitude on COPD prevalence. Post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC below the lower limit of normal defined airflow limitation consistent with COPD. High altitude was defined as >1500 m above sea level. Undiagnosed COPD was considered when participants had airflow limitation but did not report a prior diagnosis of COPD.Results: Among 30,874 participants aged 56.1 ± 11.3 years from 44 sites worldwide, 55.8% were women, 49.6% never-smokers, and 12.9% (3978 subjects) were residing above 1500 m. COPD prevalence was significantly lower in participants living at high altitude with a prevalence of 8.5% compared to 9.9%, respectively (p < 0.005). However, known risk factors were significantly less frequent at high altitude. Hence, in the adjusted multivariate analysis, altitude itself had no significant influence on COPD prevalence. Living at high altitude, however, was associated with a significantly increased risk of undiagnosed COPD. Furthermore, subjects with airflow limitation living at high altitude reported significantly less respiratory symptoms compared to subjects residing at lower altitude.Conclusion: Living at high altitude is not associated with a difference in COPD prevalence after accounting for individual risk factors. However, high altitude itself was associated with an increased risk of undiagnosed COPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) prevalence varies depending on the studied population and definition criteria. The prevalence and clinical characteristics of ACOS in an at-risk COPD primary care population from Latin America was assessed.Methods: Patients ≥40 years, current/ex-smokers and/or exposed to biomass, attending routine primary care visits completed a questionnaire and performed spirometry. COPD was defined as post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) < 0.70; asthma was defined as either prior asthma diagnosis or wheezing in the last 12 months plus reversibility (increase in post-bronchodilator FEV1 or FVC ≥200 mL and ≥12%); ACOS was defined using a combination of COPD with the two asthma definitions. Exacerbations in the past year among the subgroups were evaluated.Results: One thousand seven hundred forty three individuals completed the questionnaire, 1540 performed acceptable spirometry, 309 had COPD, 231 had prior asthma diagnosis, and 78 asthma by wheezing + reversibility. ACOS prevalence in the total population (by post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC < 0.70 plus asthma diagnosis) was 5.3 and 2.3% by post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC < 0.70 plus wheezing + reversibility. In the obstructive population (asthma or COPD), prevalence rises to 17.9 and 9.9% by each definition, and to 26.5 and 11.3% in the COPD population. ACOS patients defined by post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC < 0.7 plus wheezing + reversibility had the lowest lung function measurements. Exacerbations for ACOS showed a prevalence ratio of 2.68 and 2.20 (crude and adjusted, p < 0.05, respectively) (reference COPD).Conclusions: ACOS prevalence in primary care varied according to definition used. ACOS by post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC < 0.7 plus wheezing + reversibility represents a clinical phenotype with more frequent exacerbations, which is probably associated with a different management approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Spirometry is the gold standard for diagnosing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although there are a number of different guideline criteria for deciding who should be selected for spirometric screening, to date it is not known which criteria are the best based on sensitivity and specificity. AIMS: Firstly, to evaluate the proportion of subjects in the PLATINO Study that would be recommended for spirometry testing according to Global initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD)-modified, American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), National Lung Health Education Program (NLHEP), GOLD and American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (ATS/ERS) criteria. Secondly, we aimed to compare the sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive and negative predictive values, of these five different criteria. METHODS: Data from the PLATINO study included information on respiratory symptoms, smoking and previous spirometry testing. The GOLD-modified spirometry indication criteria are based on three positive answers out of five questions: the presence of cough, phlegm in the morning, dyspnoea, age over 40 years and smoking status. RESULTS: Data from 5,315 subjects were reviewed. Fewer people had an indication for spirometry (41.3%) according to the GOLD-modified criteria, and more people had an indication for spirometry (80.4%) by the GOLD and ATS/ERS criteria. A low percentage had previously had spirometry performed: GOLD-modified (14.5%); ACCP (13.2%); NLHEP (12.6%); and GOLD and ATS/ERS (12.3%). The GOLD-modified criteria showed the least sensitivity (54.9) and the highest specificity (61.0) for detecting COPD, whereas GOLD and ATS/ERS criteria showed the highest sensitivity (87.9) and the least specificity (20.8). CONCLUSION: There is a considerable difference in the indication for spirometry according to the five different guideline criteria. The GOLD-modified criteria recruit less people with the greatest sum of sensitivity and specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine whether the presence of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and reduction of lung function parameters were predictors of mortality in a cohort. Materials/Patients and Methods: Population based cohorts were followed in Montevideo, Santiago and Sao Paulo during 5, 6 and 9 years, respectively. Outcomes included all-cause, cardiovascular, respiratory and cancer mortality; exposures were COPD, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC). Cox regression was used for analyses. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, receiver operator characteristics curves and Youden's index were calculated. Results: Main causes of death were cardiovascular, respiratory and cancer. Baseline COPD was associated with overall mortality (HR = 1.43 for FEV1/FVC1/FEV6 1 was risk for overall and respiratory mortality (both genders combined). FVC was not associated with overall mortality. For most COPD criteria sensitivity was low and specificity high. The area under the curve for FEV1 was greater than for FVC for overall and cardiovascular mortality. Answer to the Question: COPD and low FEV1 are important predictors for overall and cardiovascular mortality in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a research on the effect of smoking on skeletal muscle. It explores on the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as the main effect of tobacco smoke and focuses on the potential damage of smoking to skeletal muscle. It reveals that smokers presented some alterations of skeletal muscle. The finding supports some muscular structural and metabolic damage but not the presence of local inflammation in the smokers.

The article focuses on the study which aims to determine the impact of an 8-week program of comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation on depression, anxiety, dyspnea, and health-related quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To test, 24 patients with severe COPD randomized either to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) or control have been studied. They were then evaluated through the Beck Depression Inventory, State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Modified Medical Research Council Scale and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire. Considering the positive results of the program, it was concluded that PR could induce important changes on depression and anxiety independent of changes in dyspnea and health-related quality-of-life.

A response by M. Montes de Oca and Sonia H. Torres to a letter to the editor about their article, "Peripheral muscle alteration in non-COPD smokers," in a 2008 issue, is presented.

Background: We aimed to study the adverse outcomes of symptomatic and asymptomatic non-obstructed individuals and those with mild COPD longitudinally in participants from three Latin-American cities., Methods: Two population-based surveys of adults with spirometry were conducted for these same individuals with a 5- to 9-year interval. We evaluated the impact of respiratory symptoms (cough, phlegm, wheezing or dyspnea) in non-obstructed individuals, and among those classified as Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stage 1, COPD on exacerbation frequency, mortality and FEV 1 decline, compared with asymptomatic individuals without airflow obstruction or restriction., Results: Non-obstructed symptomatic individuals had a marginal increased risk of mortality (HR 1.3; 95% CI 0.9-1.94), increased FEV 1 decline (-4.5 mL/year; 95% CI -8.6, -0.4) and increased risk of 2+ exacerbations in the previous year (OR 2.6; 95% CI 1.2-6.5). Individuals with GOLD stage 1 had a marginal increase in mortality (HR 1.5; 95% CI 0.93-2.3) but a non-significant impact on FEV 1 decline or exacerbations compared with non-obstructed individuals., Conclusions: The presence of respiratory symptoms in non-obstructed individuals was a predictor of mortality, lung-function decline and exacerbations, whereas the impact of GOLD stage 1 was mild and inconsistent. Respiratory symptoms were associated with asthma, current smoking, and the report of heart disease. Spirometric case-finding and treatment should target individuals with moderate-to-severe airflow obstruction and those with restriction, the groups with consistent increased mortality., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Background: Although some patients with obstructive lung disease (OLD) have features of both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the term "asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS)" was coined only relatively recently. However, there are gaps in our knowledge of the clinical features, pathogenesis, prognosis, and management of ACOS patients., Objectives: To review the literature on ACOS to determine the extent to which the clinical features, pathologic mechanisms, clinical outcomes, and current therapeutic approaches for ACOS differ from those in patients with asthma alone or COPD alone., Methods: PUBMED searches were conducted to review the demographic and clinical features, comorbidities, lung imaging characteristics, prognoses, pathologic mechanisms, and current therapeutic approaches for patients with ACOS versus asthma alone or COPD alone., Results: Criteria that are used to diagnose ACOS vary considerably. Overall, ACOS patients have higher symptom burdens (especially dyspnea), poorer quality of life scores, and more frequent and severe exacerbations than patients with COPD alone or asthma alone. However, there are conflicting reports on the prognosis of ACOS patients. Imaging studies indicate that ACOS is predominantly an airway disease. ACOS has been linked to the presence of Th2-type immune responses in COPD airways and Th1-type immune responses in asthmatic airways. Current therapeutic options for ACOS patients include inhaled corticosteroids and bronchodilators. However, randomized clinical trials have not yet been conducted to optimize the management of ACOS patients., Conclusion: ACOS patients have clinical features that are now well defined, but additional studies are needed to provide novel insights into ACOS pathogenesis, and to optimize the treatment of these patients., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.)

Objective: To determine whether the presence of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and reduction of lung function parameters were predictors of mortality in a cohort., Materials/patients and Methods: Population based cohorts were followed in Montevideo, Santiago and Sao Paulo during 5, 6 and 9 years, respectively. Outcomes included all-cause, cardiovascular, respiratory and cancer mortality; exposures were COPD, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC). Cox regression was used for analyses. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, receiver operator characteristics curves and Youden's index were calculated., Results: Main causes of death were cardiovascular, respiratory and cancer. Baseline COPD was associated with overall mortality (HR = 1.43 for FEV1/FVC