Chest
Clinical InvestigationsCopdCough and Phlegm Are Important Predictors of Health Status in Smokers Without COPD
Section snippets
Subjects
One hundred seventeen subjects (66 men and 51 women) were studied: 36 subjects were smokers, 21 were ex-smokers, 19 were never-smokers, and 41 had COPD. They are all participants in a cohort longitudinal study of patients with COPD and appropriate control subjects. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center. All subjects signed the informed consent. Smokers were defined as subjects who were still active smokers. Ex-smokers were subjects who had
General Characteristics
The characteristics of smokers, ex-smokers, never-smokers, and COPD patients are shown in Table 1. The age in the smoker group was slightly lower than in the other three groups. The four groups had the same anthropometric values.
Pulmonary Function
The pulmonary function test results are shown in Table 1. The smokers, ex-smokers, and never-smokers had similar FVC and static lung volumes. However, the Dlco was lower in current smokers (89 ± 16% predicted). The FEV1 percent predicted, although normal, was lower in
Discussion
The present study had several important findings. First, the health status measured with the disease-specific SGRQ was worse in current smokers vs ex-smokers and never-smokers. Second, in current and ex-smokers, the intensity of overall exposure to cigarettes (number of pack-years) was associated with worse health status independent of lung function. This is due to the presence and intensity of cough and sputum production. Third, exercise capacity, as represented by the 6MWD, was the same in
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Supported in part by a grant from GlaxoSmithKline.