Active clinical trials for "Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive"

This is a multicenter, prospective observational cohort study, in which patients with chronic airway diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), asthma, asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) will be recruited.

The Comprehensive Lung Center (CLC) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC Health System) provides patients with any type of breathing or lung disorder a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. The Emphysema/COPD Research Center (ECRC) is a specialty clinic, within this center, that attempts to advance the understanding of emphysema and to evaluate new therapies for patients with emphysema. The Emphysema Research Registry will enable pulmonary research physicians to: 1) gather information and create a research registry of people who have been diagnosed with emphysema; 2) utilize this research registry with the purpose of conducting research that attempts to advance the understanding of emphysema and to evaluate new therapies; and, 3) use the research registry to identify potential candidates for future research programs. These aims will be achieved by the collection of DNA (genetic material)for analysis and storage in addition to pulmonary function tests and other medical information.

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of a stream of cool air to the face, through fan-to-face therapy, as a novel adjunct non-pharmacological therapy to enable symptomatic adults with cardiopulmonary disease to exercise at higher intensities for longer durations and maximize the psycho-physiological benefits of a supervised exercise training program. The investigators hypothesize that, compared to no fan, fan-to-face therapy will result in relatively greater improvements in exercise endurance time and intensity ratings of perceived breathlessness during constant-load cardiopulmonary exercise testing on a treadmill at 75% of peak power output.

The goal of this translational study is to establish a newly emerging CT-based tool for the characterization of changes in bone micro-architecture and assessment of their implications for fracture-risk in a population of COPD patients at risk for osteoporosis. The tool will be suitable and generalizable across emerging CT scanners from different vendors, and it will provide a more structurally-based assessment of osteoporosis and bone loss than is provided by simple bone density measures. The study will characterize the impact of different COPD-related factors on bone structure, and their implications for fracture-risk, leading to the development of a COPD-specific model for assessment of fracture-risk that will utilize patient-specific demographic, clinical and radiographic data, and CT BMD at the spine, as well as bone structural measures at the hip and/or ankle.

The goal of this clinical trial is to test titrated oxygen in prehospital patients with suspected acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) treated with inhaled bronchodilators. The main question it aims to answer is: To determine whether prehospital titrated oxygen strategy in patients with suspected AECOPD will decrease 30-day mortality compared to patients receiving standard care. Participants in the intervention will receive titrated oxygen - a mix of supplemental oxygen and compressed atmospheric air as driver for inhaled bronchodilators to target SpO2 (oxygen saturation) 88-92%. The intervention will be compared to standard treatment, using compressed oxygen (100%) as driver for inhaled bronchodilators.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how variations in oxygen demands may change heart electrical activity in individuals with and without oxygen dependence.

Household air pollution (HAP) is a leading risk factor for global burden of disease. Resource-constrained communities of the world especially women and children are significantly impacted by this challenge. To address household air pollution, cleaner and more efficient improved cookstoves (ICS) have been disseminated to low resource communities. Although there has been initial uptake of these stoves, sustained use has been inconsistent adding to the challenge of household air pollution. There is limited understanding at the intersections of social, ecological, and technical determinants of sustained use of ICS, and how is sustained use of ICS associated with exposure and health outcomes in poor communities. The overarching goal of this exploratory study is to initiate a comprehensive research program that will facilitate the use of ICS and investigate whether they render significant health benefits among rural Indian households. The investigators installed ICS (model: Eco-Chulla XXL) in select households that primarily use biomass for cooking, and evaluate the intervention based on three specific aims: To generate preliminary emissions data [particulate matter - mass and surface area based, carbon monoxide (CO)] from ICS and its effect on respiratory health outcomes that will facilitate the development of a pivotal clean cookstove intervention To generate effect size data that establish the feasibility and inform the sample size of a pivotal trial whose primary objective will be sustained improvements in the respiratory health of women and children in rural India To evaluate factors which enable and hinder the sustained use of clean cookstove technologies by the rural poor in India so that the investigators can develop a more refined pivotal intervention focused on improving respiratory health

MonitorMe is a telephone device intended for the non-critical monitoring of vital signs in a domestic environment with the ability to automatically transmit data to a remote location via basic telephone connectivity. MonitorMe's low-cost, call automation and simple to use technology (i.e. based on the principles of an ordinary plug-in telephone) make it appropriate for a wide number of care pathways. It eliminates the need for a modem or broadband and avoids the challenges of less reliable smart phone technology. Typical use scenarios include remote monitoring of individual or multiple chronic disease states such as COPD to improve patient outcomes including prevention of emergency admissions. There is growing interest in the use of home telemonitoring in COPD in order to facilitate the management of the increasing numbers of patients and pressures on the NHS. Despite the positive effects of telemonitoring in conditions such as heart failure, benefits remain unproven in COPD and further work is required before wide-scale use. Furthermore, until now the evaluation of telecare and telehealth developments has focused mainly on effectiveness and efficiency, whereas their social, and ethical implications in particular, have not been explored in depth. We will also explore ethical issues related to the use of telehealth systems, from both the patients' and the healthcare professionals' perspective. The current feasibility study is designed to assess the acceptability, usability and validity of MonitorMe within one of its intended purposes i.e. remote monitoring of individual or multiple chronic disease states such as COPD.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Patients with COPD are routinely exposed to indoor and outdoor air pollution, which appears to cause escalation of their respiratory symptoms, a process called exacerbation, with resulting need to seek medical attention. This research plan proposes to evaluate the impact of lung immune cells in susceptibility to develop exacerbation through an experimental model of inhalational exposure using ambient levels of a component of air pollution (ozone) in COPD patients and longitudinal sampling of their lung immune cells.

Multiple chronic conditions (MCC) are widely recognized as the U.S. public health challenge of the 21st century. These physical and behavioral health conditions take a large toll on those suffering from the diseases, including many who are publicly insured, as well as caregivers and society. While evidence-based integrated care models can improve outcomes for individuals with MCC, such models have not yet been widely implemented. Insurance providers/payers have innovative system features that can be used to deploy these models; however, the investigators do not yet know which of these features can best help to improve outcomes for individuals with MCC in general or high-need subgroups in particular. As a result, patients lack information to make important decisions about their health and health care, and system-level decision makers face ongoing challenges in effectively and efficiently supporting those with MCC. This real-world study will provide useful information about available options for supporting individuals with MCC. Building on existing integrated care efforts, the investigators will enroll N=1,927 (N=265 Phase I and N=1,662 Phase II) adults with MCC at risk for repeated hospitalizations and assess the impact of three payer-led options (e.g. High-Touch, High-Tech, Usual Care) on patient-centered outcomes, namely patient activation in health care, health status, and subsequent re-hospitalization. The investigators will also determine which option works best for whom under what circumstances by gathering information directly from individuals with MCC through self-report questionnaires, health care use data, and interviews.