Abstract

Background: The BREATHE study is a cross-sectional study of real-life patients with asthma and/or COPD in Denmark and Sweden aiming to increase the knowledge across severities and combinations of obstructive airway disease.

Design: Patients with suspicion of asthma and/or COPD and healthy controls were invited to participate in the study and had a standard evaluation performed consisting of questionnaires, physical examination, FeNO and lung function, mannitol provocation test, allergy test, and collection of sputum and blood samples. A subgroup of patients and healthy controls had a bronchoscopy performed with a collection of airway samples.

Results: The study population consisted of 1403 patients with obstructive airway disease (859 with asthma, 271 with COPD, 126 with concurrent asthma and COPD, 147 with other), and 89 healthy controls (smokers and non-smokers). Of patients with asthma, 54% had moderate-to-severe disease and 46% had mild disease. In patients with COPD, 82% had groups A and B, whereas 18% had groups C and D classified disease. Patients with asthma more frequently had childhood asthma, atopic dermatitis, and allergic rhinitis, compared to patients with COPD, asthma + COPD and Other, whereas FeNO levels were higher in patients with asthma and asthma + COPD compared to COPD and Other (18 ppb and 16 ppb vs 12.5 ppb and 14 ppb, p < 0.001). Patients with asthma, asthma + COPD and Other had higher sputum eosinophilia (1.5%, 1.5%, 1.2% vs 0.75%, respectively, p < 0.001) but lower sputum neutrophilia (39.3, 43.5%, 40.8% vs 66.8%, p < 0.001) compared to patients with COPD.

Conclusions: The BREATHE study provides a unique database and biobank with clinical information and samples from 1403 real-life patients with asthma, COPD, and overlap representing different severities of the diseases. This research platform is highly relevant for disease phenotype- and biomarker studies aiming to describe a broad spectrum of obstructive airway diseases.

Details

Title
Clinical characteristics of the BREATHE cohort – a real-life study on patients with asthma and COPD
Author
Backer, Vibeke 1 ; Klein, Ditte K 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Bodtger, Uffe 3 ; Romberg, Kerstin 4 ; Porsbjerg, Celeste 2 ; Erjefält, Jonas S 5 ; Kristiansen, Karsten 6 ; Xu, Ruiqi 7 ; Silberbrandt, Alexander 2 ; Frøssing, Laurits 2 ; Hvidtfeldt, Morten 2 ; Obling, Nicolai 3 ; Jarenbäck, Linnea 8 ; Nasr, Abir 8 ; Tufvesson, Ellen 8 ; Mori, Michiko 5 ; Winther-Jensen, Matilde 9 ; Karlsson, Lisa 5 ; Nihlén, Ulf 8 ; Flintegaard, Thomas Veje 2 ; Bjermer, Leif 8 

1  Centre for Physical Activity Research, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark 
2  Respiratory Research Unit, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Bispebjerg University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark 
3  Department of Respiratory and Internal Medicine, Naestved Hospital, Naestved, Denmark; Institute of Regional Health Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark 
4  Health Care Centre, Näsets Läkargrupp, Höllviken, Sweden; Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Lund, Sweden 
5  Unit of Airway Inflammation, Lund University, Lund, Sweden 
6  Laboratory of Genomics and Molecular Biomedicine, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark 
7  North Europe Regional Department, BGI-Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark 
8  Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Lund, Sweden 
9  Centre for Clinical Research and Prevention, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
Dec 2020
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Ltd.
e-ISSN
20018525
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/20018525.2020.1736934
ProQuest document ID
2458509157
Copyright
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons  Attribution – Non-Commercial License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.