MeiLan K Han, Wen Ye, Di Wang, Emily White, Mehrdad Arjomandi, Igor Z Barjaktarevic, Stacey-Ann Brown, Russell G Buhr, Alejandro P Comellas, Christopher B Cooper, Gerard J Criner, Mark T Dransfield, Frank Drescher, Rodney J Folz, Nadia N Hansel, Ravi Kalhan, Robert J Kaner, Richard E Kanner, Jerry A Krishnan, Stephen C Lazarus, Veeranna Maddipati, Fernando J Martinez, Anne Mathews, Catherine Meldrum, Charlene McEvoy, Toru Nyunoya, Linda Rogers, William W Stringer, Christine H Wendt, Robert A Wise, Stephen R Wisniewski, Frank C Sciurba, Prescott G Woodruff
BACKGROUND: Many persons with a history of smoking tobacco have clinically significant respiratory symptoms despite an absence of airflow obstruction as assessed by spirometry. They are often treated with medications for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but supporting evidence for this treatment is lacking. METHODS: We randomly assigned persons who had a tobacco-smoking history of at least 10 pack-years, respiratory symptoms as defined by a COPD Assessment Test score of at least 10 (scores range from 0 to 40, with higher scores indicating worse symptoms), and preserved lung function on spirometry (ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1 ] to forced vital capacity [FVC] ≥0...
September 29, 2022: New England Journal of Medicine