Characteristics of patients referred to Canary Island pneumology outpatient services for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: the EPOCan study.

OBJECTIVE: Assessing patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) accounts for 30% of all pneumology outpatient evaluations. COPD is a heterogeneous disease and generates a massive public health problem. Overall morbidity, particularly cardiovascular disease, challenges patient management. This is an observational, multicentre study, performed at four hospitals in the Canary Islands (Spain), aimed at characterising patients with COPD referred to pneumology outpatient services. Demographic variables, lung function, and morbidity were assessed. RESULTS: Of the 877 included patients, 44.9% were active smokers with a mean (± SD) age of 68.2 ± 10.3 years. The median (IQR) score for the Charlson comorbidity index was 2 (2), and 70.6% of the patients were assigned high risk according to the Spanish Guidelines for COPD (GesEPOC) 2021. The degree of airflow obstruction defined by the GOLD 2021 stages 1, 2, 3, and 4 corresponded to 13.6%, 49%, 31%, and 6.3% of patients, respectively. The most frequently associated morbidities were arterial hypertension (59.5%), dyslipidaemia (54.3%), and type 2 diabetes mellitus (31.2%); 32% of the patients suffered heart disease. There is a high prevalence of active smoking, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and heart disease in patients referred for COPD to Canary Island pneumology outpatient services.

The Genomics and Metagenomics of Asthma Severity (GEMAS) Study: Rationale and Design.

Asthma exacerbations are a major contributor to the global disease burden, but no significant predictive biomarkers are known. The Genomics and Metagenomics of Asthma Severity (GEMAS) study aims to assess the role of genomics and the microbiome in severe asthma exacerbations. Here, we present the design of GEMAS and the characteristics of patients recruited from March 2018 to March 2020. Different biological samples and demographic and clinical variables were collected from asthma patients recruited by allergy and pulmonary medicine units in several hospitals from Spain. Cases and controls were defined by the presence/absence of severe asthma exacerbations in the past year (oral corticosteroid use, emergency room visits, and/or asthma-related hospitalizations). A total of 137 cases and 120 controls were recruited. After stratifying by recruitment location (i.e., Canary Islands and Basque Country), cases and controls did not differ for most demographic and clinical variables (p > 0.05). However, cases showed a higher proportion of characteristics inherent to asthma exacerbations (impaired lung function, severe disease, uncontrolled asthma, gastroesophageal reflux, and use of asthma medications) compared to controls (p < 0.05). Similar results were found after stratification by recruitment unit. Thereby, asthma patients enrolled in GEMAS are balanced for potential confounders and have clinical characteristics that support the phenotype definition. GEMAS will improve the knowledge of potential biomarkers of asthma exacerbations.