Hospitalization rates for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are continuing to increase and a majority of asthma patients live with significant symptoms, impairing their quality of life. While the labels of asthma and COPD are valuable for patients who display stereotypical symptoms, there are a growing number of patients who do not fit this category, including patients with adult-onset asthma, smoking asthmatics, or patients with the so-called asthma-COPD overlap syndrome.
Defining a patient's symptoms using the historical diagnostic labels of asthma and COPD is an outdated approach to understanding an individual's condition, suggested experts writing in the European Respiratory Journal.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
COPD includes respiratory tract disorders that cause obstruction to airflow. These are chronic bronchitis, emphysema and small airway disease.
Advertisement
‘Defining a patient's symptoms using the historical diagnostic labels of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is an outdated approach to understanding an individual's condition. Experts suggested a more personalized approach to management that identifies 'treatable traits' in each patient.’
Tweet it Now
In a perspective article, Professor Alvar Agusti and colleagues call for a new approach to patient management, which moves away from categorizing patients using the broad disease terms of asthma and COPD and towards a more personalized approach to management that identifies 'treatable traits' in each patient.
In the past 30 years, new technologies have developed, providing clinicians with a range of tools to allow them to observe a patient and define that patient's condition. Previously, understanding a patient's condition relied on analysis of symptoms and signs, such as lung function measurements and airway hyper-responsiveness, but now clinicians can access information about a range of other underlying complex biological traits, including cellular and molecular traits. This could include measures such as CT scanning, cellular and molecular markers taken from blood samples, sputum and exhaled air and microbiome analysis.
![Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD: New Revelations]( "Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD: New Revelations")
In patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD, the drug tiotropium is more effective than salmeterol in preventing exacerbations.
Professor Agusti commented, "We propose a label-free precision medicine approach based on treatable traits that categorize the clinical and biological complexity of airway disease. The approach we are suggesting would radicalize healthcare and have significant implications for the organisation of a healthcare system. By recognizing the clinical and biological complexity of a disease, we can use causal mechanistic disease pathways to adopt a more precise approach, which is hopefully more effective at managing patients with these conditions."
In an accompanying editorial, Professor Peter Sterk, from the University of Amsterdam, supports the call for a move away from diagnostic labels. Professor Sterk commented, "We are living in an era where we have new biological knowledge and new targets for therapy but we largely continue to guide patient management with diagnostic labels. It is the right time for healthcare professionals to take bold steps and move aware from historical diagnoses that are impeding modern medicine."
Source: Eurekalert
Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD: New Revelations
In patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD, the drug tiotropium is more effective than salmeterol in preventing exacerbations.
Advertisement
Professor Agusti commented, "We propose a label-free precision medicine approach based on treatable traits that categorize the clinical and biological complexity of airway disease. The approach we are suggesting would radicalize healthcare and have significant implications for the organisation of a healthcare system. By recognizing the clinical and biological complexity of a disease, we can use causal mechanistic disease pathways to adopt a more precise approach, which is hopefully more effective at managing patients with these conditions."
In an accompanying editorial, Professor Peter Sterk, from the University of Amsterdam, supports the call for a move away from diagnostic labels. Professor Sterk commented, "We are living in an era where we have new biological knowledge and new targets for therapy but we largely continue to guide patient management with diagnostic labels. It is the right time for healthcare professionals to take bold steps and move aware from historical diagnoses that are impeding modern medicine."
Source: Eurekalert
Researchers Continue Developing Treatments For Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Poor airflow due to the breakdown of lung tissue, mucus accumulation and airway dysfunction are the characteristics of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Advertisement
Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Recommended Reading
Latest Respiratory Disease News
People suffering from asthma or Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) might one day benefit from new treatments that trigger bitter taste receptors.
Rising influenza cases in India have resulted in more patients reporting pneumonia-like conditions and ear fullness.
How to prevent allergic asthma? The functional reprogramming of immune cells encountering viruses gives protection against the development of allergic asthma.
CAPTURE, screening tool was able to identify roughly half of primary care patients with COPD that could benefit from available treatments.
Why many people are in the hospital with the flu? Many people with chronic conditions face serious complications from flu, leading to hospitalization, or in some instances, death.