Active clinical trials for "Bronchitis, Chronic"

Patients with Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COPD) often develop muscle problems, particularly in their legs which makes them more limited in what they can do. The Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) is a simple test of standing balance, usual walking speed and ability to stand from a chair. The SPPB may be a useful measure to predict leg function. This study aims to evaluate whether the SPPB is comparable with current exercise tests used in COPD patients, and whether it is useful in predicting disability, death and health resource usage over time.

To determine whether an average population of males and females who smoke 10 pack years or more of cigarettes in a primary care setting with chronic bronchitis has already developed significant changes on pulmonary function testing.

The study does not involve testing of a drug (no treatment intervention). The study will will use spirometry (breathing tests) in subjects of 40 years of age and older with a history of cigarette smoking with chronic bronchitis to check their disease status and whether or not they have COPD. Also, study subjects will be asked to complete a questionnaire (to answer a list of questions on paper).

Studying the airway microenvironment in patients undergoing surgical and bronchoscopic interventions for COPD

Cigarette smoking causes an increase in inflammation in the lungs. In about 20% of smokers this inflammation leads to damage in lungs including making holes in the lung tissue. This damage can not be repaired and these people find it very difficult to breathe. One of the problems with this disease called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD for short, is that by the time patients visit their doctor with symptoms, the damage has already been done. At the moment, there is no way to predict which smokers will go on to develop COPD. The aim of this research is to look at smokers who breathe normally and use an imaging technique called a CT scan, to look at their lungs in more detail. Some of these people will have spots on their scan which may be caused by inflammation. We want to look at the cells at these spots to see if they make more proteins and enzymes that cause lung damage when compared to people that do not have these spots. We would then be able to predict which smokers are likely to develop COPD and treat them early before they have damaged their lungs.

Acute dyspnea after use of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is a common phenomenon in patients with COPD and emphysema. This trial aims to document incidence and severity of augmented dyspnea in patients with long term NIV therapy. These findings may help in understanding the pathomechanisms that lead to post-NIV dyspnea and thus give way to potential therapy schemes.