Active clinical trials for "Lung Diseases, Obstructive"

The purpose of this qualitative work is to inform the content and structure of a new screening measure for identifying undiagnosed at-risk COPD cases in primary care and support content validity of the measure. This work will build on the results of a comprehensive literature review and data mining analyses by identifying the symptomatic and health event experiences of at-risk and newly diagnosed patients, as described by the patients themselves. Specific objectives are as follows: Objective 1: To elicit concepts and symptom descriptions of COPD from patients with a recent diagnosis of COPD and those without a diagnosis but with risk factors for the disease. The qualitative information obtained in these focus groups will be used to develop a new questionnaire for identifying undiagnosed at-risk COPD cases in various clinic settings. Objective 2: To review the new questionnaire with a new set of participants with a recent COPD diagnosis or those at risk for COPD to ensure that: (a) the instructions are clear, (b) the content of each question is appropriate and understandable to participants, (c) the intended connotation of each questions is consistent with participants' interpretation or assigned meaning, and (d) to assure that content is not seen as redundant across items. This will be done through one-on-one cognitive interviews. Objective 3: To gather data on the ease/difficulty of peak flow meter use by people without or with a new diagnosis of COPD and the consistency of readings between electronic and mechanical readings in these patients. This information will be used to inform the development of peak-flow meter instructions for use as part of the screening methodology.

This is a longitudinal observational study to identify and validate protein biomarkers for COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases) and cardiovascular disease in smokers and ex-smokers attending primary care. Special emphasize is to correlate biomarkers to different phases of COPD, to progression of the disease, and to treatment of the disease. Furthermore, linkage between COPD, cardiovascular disease, and lung cancer will be investigated by identifying protein biomarkers.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of endothelial dysfunction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The objectives were to collect information on vital status and pulmonary medication use at the predicted exit date for patients who participated in two one-year trials and withdrew prematurely. The primary objective was to ascertain the vital status (dead or alive) of these patients in the time interval between the patients' withdrawal from the trial and their predicted exit date (i.e: 48 weeks from first intake of randomised treatment + 30 days). The secondary objective was to collect information on classes of pulmonary medication and some other specified pulmonary interventions used by these prematurely discontinued patients at the time of their predicted exit date (i.e 48 weeks from the first intake of randomised treatment + 30 days) or at date of death (if this occurred during the time interval of interest, i.e 48 weeks from the first intake of randomised treatment + 30 days).

The sensitivity of a person's cough reflex can be measured by getting them to breathe in (inhale) irritant chemicals. There are different methods by which subjects are asked to inhale these chemicals, either by taking one deep breath in, or by asking them to just continue to take a number of breaths. The purpose of this clinical research study is to see if the coughing responses are different in healthy people and people with respiratory problems that make them cough when they are given these chemicals in these two methods.

Many studies have evaluated the viability of measuring the pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) by non-invasive methods in patients with pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary thromboembolism, ischemic cardiopathy and valvular disease. The investigators have not found other studies which evaluate the PVR in elderly patients with COPD. The hypothesis is that in patients with COPD, the severity of obstruction, expressed by GOLD class, is associated with an increase of PVR.

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 specific aim of this study is to describe 1 year Advair dispensing rates for patients with COPD, and to measure the association between Advair adherence and healthcare utilization (e.g. emergency room visits and inpatient admissions, etc.). To compare the risk of a COPD exacerbation (moderate or severe) during a 3-month follow-up period between patients thqat are adherent versus those that are not.

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.

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