Patterns and Trends in the Use of Medications for COPD Control in a Cohort of 9476 Colombian Patients, 2017-2019.

Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects approximately 174 million people worldwide. The objective was to determine the trends of COPD medication use in a group of Colombian patients.

Patients And Methods: This was a retrospective study on prescription patterns of bronchodilators and other medications used in COPD from a population database with follow-up at 12 and 24 months.

Smoking cessation and vaccination.

A significant proportion of COPD patients (∼40%) continue smoking despite knowing that they have the disease. Smokers with COPD exhibit higher levels of nicotine dependence, and have lower self-efficacy and self-esteem, which affects their ability to quit smoking. Treatment should be adapted to the needs of individual patients with different levels of tobacco dependence.

CC16 augmentation reduces exaggerated COPD-like disease in Cc16-deficient mice.

Low Club Cell 16 kDa protein (CC16) plasma levels are linked to accelerated lung function decline in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Cigarette smoke-exposed (CS-exposed) Cc16-/- mice have exaggerated COPD-like disease associated with increased NF-κB activation in their lungs. It is unclear whether CC16 augmentation can reverse exaggerated COPD in CS-exposed Cc16-/- mice and whether increased NF-κB activation contributes to the exaggerated COPD in CS-exposed Cc16-/- lungs.

Early diagnosis of COPD: myth or a true perspective.

The early stages of COPD have recently become a hot topic as many new risk factors have been proposed, but substantial knowledge gaps remain in explaining the natural history of the disease. If we are to modify the outcomes of COPD, early detection needs to play a critical role. However, we need to sort out the barriers to early detection and have a better understanding of the definition of COPD and its diagnosis and therapeutic strategies to identify and treat patients with COPD before structural changes progress.

Is It Time to Change the Definition of Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmornary Disease? What Do We Need to Add?

Acute exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) are associated with increased mortality, rate of hospitalization, use of healthcare resources, and have a negative impact on disease progression, quality of life and lung function of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). There is an imperative need to homogenize the definition of AECOPD because the incidence of exacerbations has a significant influence or implication on treatment decision making, particularly in pharmacotherapy and could impact the outcome or change the statistical significance of a therapeutic intervention in clinical trials. In this review, using PubMed searches, we have analyzed the weaknesses and strengths of the different used AECOPD definitions (symptom-based, healthcare-based definition or the combinations of both), as well as the findings of the studies that have assessed the relationship of different biomarkers with the diagnosis, etiology and differential diagnosis of AECOPD and the progress towards the development of a more precise definition of COPD exacerbation.