This study aims to detect younger smokers who may be at increased risk of losing lung function and help us to understand the inflammatory basis of that excess lung function loss and is funded by a collaboration including the British Lung Foundation.
What is the purpose of the study?
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) affects around 8% of the UK adult population and is the cause of considerable illness and deaths. Furthermore exacerbations (flare-up of symptoms) are a major cause of hospital admission in the UK. COPD is usually a progressive condition originating with airway inflammation caused mainly by smoking from early adulthood and leading to airflow limitation.
Patients are usually diagnosed with COPD later in life but at this stage the disease is already well established.
Understanding the mechanisms of early COPD and studying smokers at a younger age when symptoms first develop and lung function decline is already occurring is especially important.
The main objective of this research is to study the very early stages of development of COPD. This will be done by recruiting a novel cohort of younger smokers, in whom we will follow changes in lung function to identify those at risk of progression.
For more information:
This study has now ended recruitment