Active clinical trials for "Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive"

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory disease with high prevalence worldwide and with relevant impact on patient-related quality of life, morbidity and mortality. There is evidence that airway inflammation correlates with the severity of the disease and that airway inflammation is further enhanced during exacerbation. However, it is unknown whether daily fluctuation of symptoms or changes in lung function is paralleled by changes in airway inflammation.

The investigators have taken part in the development of simple muscle function tests and studied physical training and energy turnover in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD. The investigators have found that muscle wasting in COPD is related to poor prognosis and that physical training might lead to improved, less energy-demanding muscle function. Elderly subjects also suffer from muscle wasting that leads to frailty, poor autonomy and, secondarily, fractures. In the planned study the investigators will validate simple muscle function tests (hand grip strength, heel rise test, voluntary quadriceps muscle strength, 30 m walking test and balance tests) in both groups by relating them to an involuntary, magnet stimulated, test of quadriceps force, HRQL, tests of body composition (impedance, DXA) and recordings of physical activity. The relation between food intake, systemic inflammation, muscle mass and function will be analysed. The study has been ethically approved and started in COPD patients and will be expanded to a representative sample of elderly. Simple, evaluated muscle function tests applied in primary care may be used for early detection of muscle dysfunction in COPD patients and elderly so that early intervention against impaired muscle function can be started. Analyses of food intake and of inflammatory markers might identify factors of special importance for muscle dysfunction, which eventually might lead to improved dietary therapy and pharmacological interventions.

COPD patients frequently suffer intermittent exacerbations of their disease characterised by acute deterioration of symptoms. Acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) are associated with significant impairment of health status, use of health care resources, poor prognosis and increased mortality. The development of simple and practical predictive tools would help to identify COPD patients at greater risk of suffering exacerbations, which is important since those patients would need more intense and early treatment. This one-year prospective cohort non-drug study will evaluate several COPD-specific questionnaires as predictive tools and the presence of cardiovascular comorbidities as risk factors, for the composite events in study cohorts. The trial duration consists of a screening period (4-6 weeks) and a follow-up period (12 months), 4 visits in total along the study.

To describe Computed Tomography (CT) features associated with severe exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

The timing of initiating short-term treatment for COPD exacerbations with oral corticosteroids and/or antibiotic therapy has been shown to influence the recovery time of exacerbations with early initiation of exacerbation therapy having a faster symptom recovery compared to delayed initiation. While oral corticosteroids and/or antibiotic therapy are crucial for immediate exacerbation therapy, maintenance therapy with controller medications for COPD has been recommended to reduce the risk of future exacerbations. The initiation of maintenance therapy after a COPD exacerbation has been shown to be beneficial in the reduction of risk of future exacerbations. However, there is a lack of information on whether the timing of this initiation influences the risk of future exacerbations. The following study evaluates the impact of early versus delayed initiation of controller medication therapy for maintenance treatment following a COPD-related exacerbation on outcomes of future exacerbations and costs in patients with COPD.

This is a cross-sectional, observational study, investigating the point prevalence of Airflow Limitation in current or former smokers with established ischemic heart disease. The study will recruit up to 3000 patients from cardiology clinics at hospitals across Europe.

The aim of this study is to examine the association of COPD maintenance inhalation medication (Inhaled Corticosteroid or ICS) adherence with COPD exacerbation healthcare resource utilization among COPD patients with exacerbation history.

This is an observational study which aims to evaluate the possibility of using data from a capnography device to assess obstructive airway severity in both Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Asthma patients.

Collagens are proteins present in all tissues. Besides their structural role, recent data showed that they were able to regulate many cellular functions. Many interactions occur between extracellular matrix macromolecules, especially collagen, and various cell types. These interactions can be controlled by peptides derived extracellular matrix macromolecules, called matrikines. Previous work from the investigators laboratory and others have shown that several C-terminal domain (NC1 domains) from basement membrane-associated collagens could regulate many cellular activities. Lung is an organ particularly abundant in basement membranes. It is likely that various lung diseases may affect metabolism of basement membrane associated collagens. To the investigators knowledge, no study has focused on the expression of collagen XIX α1 chain and collagen IV chains α3 and α4 chains in lung and studied possible variations of expression in various pathophysiological situations. The aim of this study are to: Study the presence of collagen IV and XIX (or fragments) in different types of sampling such as bronchoalveolar lavage, pulmonary aspiration and bronchial biopsies Evaluate quantitative variations of expression of these collagen in different pulmonary diseases, especially chronic obstructive bronchopneumopathy, infectious pneumonia, pneumonitis or lung cancer.

This study aims to determine the extent to which pre-existing long-term conditions are associated with survival following a heart attack (acute myocardial infarction) using observational data from the UK's national heart attack register.