Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is complex, and its course is difficult to predict due to its diverse pathophysiology. Small airway disease (SAD), a key component of COPD and potential target for emerging therapeutics, may be reversible in mild COPD, but left unchecked, may worsen, leading to airway loss and emphysema. The dual nature of SAD complicates clinical management of COPD patients, necessitating more accurate monitoring methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: COPD is characterized by persistent inflammation that is responsible for remodeling the bronchovascular bundles (BVBs), which may lead to poor quality of life. Quantitative CT (QCT) scan textures of the lung can capture local disease patterns of inflammation and related respiratory morbidity.
Research Question: Are BVB textures, obtained from the adaptive multiple feature method, associated with systemic inflammation, morbidity, and mortality in COPD?
Study Design And Methods: We analyzed data from the Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures in COPD Study (SPIROMICS; n = 2,981) and the Genetic Epidemiology of COPD (COPDGene) study (n = 10,305).
Ann Am Thorac Soc
September 2025
Incidental features of interstitial lung disease (ILD) are commonly observed on chest computed tomography (CT) scans and are independently associated with poor outcomes. Although most studies to date have relied on qualitative assessments of ILD, quantitative imaging algorithms have the potential to effectively detect ILD and assist in risk stratification for population-based cohorts. To determine whether quantitative measures of ILD are associated with clinically relevant outcomes in the NLST (National Lung Screening Trial).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetabolites
November 2024
Background/objectives: Both aging and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are strongly associated with changes in the metabolome; however, it is unknown whether there are common aging/COPD metabolomic signatures and if accelerated aging is associated with COPD.
Methods: Plasma from 5704 subjects from the Genetic Epidemiology of COPD study (COPDGene) and 2449 subjects from Subpopulations and intermediate outcome measures in COPD study (SPIROMICS) were profiled using the Metabolon global metabolomics platform (1013 annotated metabolites). Post-bronchodilator spirometry measures of airflow obstruction (forced expiratory volume at one second (FEV)/forced vital capacity (FVC) < 0.
Background: Life-course lung function trajectories leading to airflow obstruction, as measured by impaired FEV/FVC (forced vital capacity), precede the onset of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We aimed to investigate whether individuals on impaired FEV/FVC trajectories have an increased burden of respiratory symptoms, including those who do not meet the spirometric criteria for COPD.
Methods: We analysed serial life-course data from two population-based cohort studies separately, which included respiratory symptoms and spirometry: the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (TAHS, Australia) cohort was recruited at age 6-7 years and followed up until middle age (mean age 53 years; range 51-55); and the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA, USA) cohort was recruited at a mean age of 25 years (range 18-30) and followed up to a mean age of 55 years (range 47-64).
Am J Respir Crit Care Med
April 2025
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exhibits considerable progression heterogeneity. We hypothesized that elastic principal graph analysis (EPGA) would identify distinct clinical phenotypes and their longitudinal relationships. Our primary objective was to create a map of COPD phenotypes and their connectivity using EPGA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic Obstr Pulm Dis
September 2024
Rationale: Identification and validation of circulating biomarkers for lung function decline in COPD remains an unmet need.
Objective: Identify prognostic and dynamic plasma protein biomarkers of COPD progression.
Methods: We measured plasma proteins using SomaScan from two COPD-enriched cohorts, the Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcomes Measures in COPD Study (SPIROMICS) and Genetic Epidemiology of COPD (COPDGene), and one population-based cohort, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Lung.
Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a clinically effective and cost-effective outpatient treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that remains highly underused. Existing analyses of PR use patterns have been focused largely on patient characteristics, but hospital-level analysis is lacking and is needed to inform interventions aimed at improving use after COPD hospitalization. To evaluate PR use across hospitals after COPD hospitalization in the state of Michigan, with the goal of characterizing hospital-level variation and identifying the characteristics of high-performing hospitals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Small airways disease (SAD) is a major cause of airflow obstruction in COPD patients and has been identified as a precursor to emphysema. Although the amount of SAD in the lungs can be quantified using our Parametric Response Mapping (PRM) approach, the full breadth of this readout as a measure of emphysema and COPD progression has yet to be explored. We evaluated topological features of PRM-derived normal parenchyma and SAD as surrogates of emphysema and predictors of spirometric decline.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Respir Crit Care Med
May 2024
Chronic Obstr Pulm Dis
January 2024
Background: Quantitative interstitial abnormalities (QIA) are an automated computed tomography (CT) finding of early parenchymal lung disease, associated with worse lung function, reduced exercise capacity, increased respiratory symptoms, and death. The metabolomic perturbations associated with QIA are not well known. We sought to identify plasma metabolites associated with QIA in smokers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AE-COPD) are detrimental events in the natural history of COPD, but the risk factors associated with future exacerbations in the absence of a history of recent exacerbations are not fully understood. To identify risk factors for COPD exacerbations among participants in the Genetic Epidemiology of COPD Study (COPDGene) without a history of exacerbation in the previous year. We identified participants with a smoking history enrolled in COPDGene who had COPD (defined as forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV]/forced vital capacity < 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCigarette smoking is an established cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Numerous studies implicate acrolein, which occurs in relatively high concentrations in cigarette smoke and reacts readily with proteins, as one causative factor for COPD in smokers. Far less is known about the possible roles in COPD of the related α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds of cigarette smoke crotonaldehyde, methacrolein, and methyl vinyl ketone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale And Objectives: Small airways disease (SAD) and emphysema are significant components of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a heterogenous disease where predicting progression is difficult. SAD, a principal cause of airflow obstruction in mild COPD, has been identified as a precursor to emphysema. Parametric Response Mapping (PRM) of chest computed tomography (CT) can help distinguish SAD from emphysema.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Small airways disease (SAD) is a major cause of airflow obstruction in COPD patients, and has been identified as a precursor to emphysema. Although the amount of SAD in the lungs can be quantified using our Parametric Response Mapping (PRM) approach, the full breadth of this readout as a measure of emphysema and COPD progression has yet to be explored. We evaluated topological features of PRM-derived normal parenchyma and SAD as surrogates of emphysema and predictors of spirometric decline.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccelerated progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with increased risks of hospitalization and death. Prognostic insights into mechanisms and markers of progression could facilitate development of disease-modifying therapies. Although individual biomarkers exhibit some predictive value, performance is modest and their univariate nature limits network-level insights.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic Obstr Pulm Dis
July 2023
Background: Abnormal lung volumes representing air trapping identify the subset of smokers with preserved spirometry who develop spirometric chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and adverse outcomes. However, how lung volumes evolve in early COPD as airflow obstruction develops remains unclear.
Methods: To establish how lung volumes change with the development of spirometric COPD, we examined lung volumes from the pulmonary function data (seated posture) available in the U.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med
August 2023
Cigarette smoking contributes to the risk of death through different mechanisms. To determine how causes of and clinical features associated with death vary in tobacco cigarette users by lung function impairment. We stratified current and former tobacco cigarette users enrolled in Genetic Epidemiology of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPDGene) into normal spirometry, PRISm (Preserved Ratio Impaired Spirometry), Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) 1-2 COPD, and GOLD 3-4 COPD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study was to train and validate machine learning models for predicting rapid decline of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV) in individuals with a smoking history at-risk-for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD 0), or with mild-to-moderate (GOLD 1-2) COPD. We trained multiple models to predict rapid FEV decline using demographic, clinical and radiologic biomarker data. Training and internal validation data were obtained from the COPDGene study and prediction models were validated against the SPIROMICS cohort.
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