
Researchers are looking at how small airway abnormalities in younger smokers could help identify who is at risk of developing COPD and establish how the disease progresses.
According to an article published in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: The Journal of the COPD Foundation, the multiyear, multicenter SPIROMICS Study of Early Disease Progression (SOURCE) is focused on enrolling a younger cohort of patients aged 30 to 55 years who have a history of cigarette smoking. The study will examine small airway abnormalities that may lead to emphysema along with the possibility of using sputum as a biomarker for COPD.
“Most studies on COPD focus on an older cohort of participants, typically those 60 and older. By enrolling younger participants who are at risk of COPD, we hope to determine why some smokers develop emphysema and some do not,” said co-lead author Jeffry Curtis, MD, professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Health System’s Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine. “This study will allow us to provide novel insight into the progression of the disease, which is necessary for the development of new therapies needed for COPD.”
The new trial will use the existing infrastructure of the large SPIROMICS (Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures in COPD) study. Participant data will be collected at baseline and at three-year follow-up visits with additional information on symptoms, interim health care utilization and exacerbations collected by phone every six months.