
As the number of COPD cases around the world continues to grow, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) issued a research statement seeking a more targeted research agenda in key areas to improve outcomes — especially for patients with both COPD and cardiovascular disease.
In a statement published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the ATS said that following a literature search, an international, multidisciplinary committee met virtually to review evidence and identify research topics. The committee found that there are research gaps in certain critical areas ranging from basic science to implementation, including:
- Disease mechanisms
- Epidemiology
- Subphenotyping
- Diagnosis and management
- Clinical trials
- Care delivery
- Medication access, adherence and side effects
- Risk factor mitigation
- Cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation
- Health equity
Health equity was identified as an important topic that should be embedded within all research. According to the statement, the committee agreed that the highest priority was to “conduct pragmatic clinical trials with patient-centered outcomes that collect both pulmonary and cardiac data elements.”
Laura C. Meyers, MD, MPH, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, was part of the committee. In an article on the company’s website, Dr. Meyers said that the statement draws attention to specific issues that need to be addressed to create better research. For example, she said that current clinical trials testing new treatments for COPD often exclude patients with cardiovascular disease.
“We need trials that specifically include COPD patients with coexisting cardiovascular conditions so that we can extrapolate the results to the complex medical patients we see in the clinic and hospital every day,” she said.