Abstract
Background
The German COPD cohort study COSYCONET elucidates the relationship between lung disease, comorbidities and systemic inflammation. Recruitment started in 10/2010 and was completed in 12/2013 in 30 study centres; there are 4 follow-up visits covering 4.5 y. The study also comprises a biobank, image bank and data for health-economic analyses. Follow-up results will be compared with those of two population-based cohorts (KORA, SHIP). Here we present first data on the baseline characteristics of the COPD cohort.
Methods
Inclusion criteria were broad to cover the range of comorbidities. In each visit, patients are described by a battery of assessments including clinical history, lung function, blood samples, 6-minute walk distance, ECG, echocardiography and questionnaires covering quality of life, depression/anxiety, cognitive impairment, physical activity and risk for osteoporosis. Chest CTs are collected if available. Data are entered into eCRFs and subjected to several stages of quality control.
Results
Overall, 2745 subjects with a clinical diagnosis of COPD have been included (59% male; mean age 65 y (range 40-90, standard deviation 8.5). Of these, 10/36/28/7 % showed GOLD stages I-IV, respectively; 19 % were uncategorized, including former GOLD 0. Data completeness was approx. 97% for the items of the baseline visit; only echocardiography showed some heterogeneity.
Conclusion
The German COPD cohort comprises patients with advanced disease but also a high percentage of less severe COPD which seems to be well suited for studying the time course of lung disease and comorbidities in relation to each other.
Supported by Competence Network Asthma/COPD, funded by FM of Education and Research, FKZ 01GI0881.
- © 2014 ERS