COPD

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When to begin maintenance therapy for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with either a single drug, or a combination of long-acting bronchodilators, is not always clear. A new study looking at whether baseline symptomatic status influences response to treatment suggests that patients with more severe dyspnea benefit more from a combination of tiotropium/olodaterol than tiotropium alone.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is one of the world’s top drivers of chronic disease burdens, the chief executive officer of ResMed told the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, as he explained the company’s strategy to help meet unmet needs using digital connectivity and data analytics.

Current guidelines for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) call for using antibiotics in the emergency department (ED) when presented with acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD). A recent study sought to determine the rate at which patients with AECOPD are treated with antibiotics and also looked at the proportions of antibiotic classes prescribed, trends of antibiotic treatment, and identified independent predictors of antibiotic therapy.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous disease, and patients can differ markedly in their rate of lung function decline and frequency of exacerbations. A recent study sought to determine what proportion of between-individual variability in symptoms can be explained by lung function versus all other observable characteristics.

A recent report, published by the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, assessed trends in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths in the United States and found that the number of in-hospital deaths for COPD has decreased; however, women account for a higher proportion of the hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths.

Researchers investigated the association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) phenotypes and the prognosis of different histological subtypes of lung cancer and found that COPD, especially emphysema-predominant phenotype, was an independent prognostic risk factor for squamous carcinoma only.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, and for COPD Awareness Month this November, The American Journal of Managed Care® conducted a Q&A with Jamie Sullivan, MPH, vice president of public policy and outcomes for The COPD Foundation, as well as Chief Medical Officer Byron M. Thomashow, MD. The COPD Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that works to improve the lives of patients with COPD.

It is already well established that patients with COPD have exacerbations during winter as well as during heat waves in the summer months, and researchers in Germany sought to see which patient groups might be potentially more vulnerable to the effects of climate change in order to see who might need targeted care.