Andrew I Ritchie, Gavin C Donaldson, Eric A Hoffman, James P Allinson, Chloe I Bloom, Charlotte E Bolton, Gourab Choudhury, Sarah E Gerard, Junfeng Guo, Luana Alves-Moreira, Lorcan McGarvey, Elizabeth Sapey, Robert A Stockley, K P Yip, Dave Singh, Tom Wilkinson, Malin Fageras, Kristoffer Ostridge, Olaf Jöns, Enrica Bucchioni, Chris H Compton, Paul Jones, Karen Mezzi, Jørgen Vestbo, Peter M A Calverley, Jadwiga A Wedzicha
RATIONALE: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) due to tobacco smoking commonly presents when extensive lung damage has occurred. OBJECTIVES: We hypothesised that structural change would be detected early in the natural history of COPD and would relate to loss of lung function with time. METHODS: We recruited 431 current smokers (median age 39 years, 16 pack-years smoked) and recorded symptoms by the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), spirometry and quantitative thoracic CT (QCT) scans at study entry...
January 4, 2024: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine