Reconsidering the Utility of Race-Specific Lung Function Prediction Equations.

African American individuals have worse outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To assess whether race-specific approaches for estimating lung function contribute to racial inequities by failing to recognize pathological decrements and considering them normal. In a cohort with and at risk for COPD, we assessed whether lung function prediction equations applied in a race-specific versus universal manner better modeled the relationship between FEV, FVC, and other COPD outcomes, including the COPD Assessment Test, St.

Racial Segregation and Respiratory Outcomes among Urban Black Residents with and at Risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Racial residential segregation has been associated with worse health outcomes, but the link with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) morbidity has not been established. To investigate whether racial residential segregation is associated with COPD morbidity among urban Black adults with or at risk of COPD. Racial residential segregation was assessed using isolation index, based on 2010 decennial census and baseline address, for Black former and current smokers in the multicenter SPIROMICS (Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures in COPD Study), a study of adults with or at risk for COPD.

Contribution of Individual and Neighborhood Factors to Racial Disparities in Respiratory Outcomes.

Black adults have worse health outcomes compared with white adults in certain chronic diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To determine to what degree disadvantage by individual and neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) may contribute to racial disparities in COPD outcomes. Individual and neighborhood-scale sociodemographic characteristics were determined in 2,649 current or former adult smokers with and without COPD at recruitment into SPIROMICS (Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures in COPD Study).

Investigation of the Obesity Paradox in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, According to Smoking Status, in the United States.

An obesity paradox in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), whereby overweight/obese individuals have improved survival, has been well-described. These studies have generally included smokers. It is unknown whether the paradox exists in individuals with COPD arising from factors other than smoking.

Occupational Exposures and Computed Tomographic Imaging Characteristics in the SPIROMICS Cohort.

Rationale: Quantitative computed tomographic (CT) imaging can aid in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) phenotyping. Few studies have identified whether occupational exposures are associated with distinct CT imaging characteristics.

Objectives: To examine the association between occupational exposures and CT-measured patterns of disease in the SPIROMICS (Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures in COPD Study).

Personal-level exposure to environmental temperature is a superior predictor of endothelial-dependent vasodilatation than outdoor-ambient level.

Environmental temperatures influence cardiovascular physiology. However, the majority of time is spent indoors, making outdoor-ambient temperatures inaccurate estimates of true exposures encountered by most individuals. We evaluated in 50 healthy adults the associations between previous 7-day outdoor-ambient (four occasions) and prior 24-hour personal-level (two occasions) environmental temperature exposures with blood pressure, heart rate variability, sleep parameters, and endothelial-dependent vasodilatation (brachial flow-mediated dilatation [FMD]) using generalized estimating equations.