CHOPN

The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the occurrence of chronic bronchitis or emphysema, a pair of commonly co-existing diseases of the lungs in which the airways narrow over time. This limits airflow to and from the lungs, causing shortness of breath (dyspnoea). In clinical practice, COPD is defined by its characteristically low airflow on lung function tests. In contrast to asthma, this limitation is poorly reversible and usually gets increasingly worse over time.

Worldwide, COPD ranked as the sixth leading cause of death in 1990. It is projected to become the fourth leading cause of death worldwide by 2030, due to an increase in smoking rates and demographic changes in many countries.

Prognosis of patients is very poor, COPD is a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality. Up-to-date and precise epidemiological data describing the situation in the Czech Republic is currently unavailable.

The COPD registry is a non-interventional multicentre observational prospective database focusing on the collection and analysis of data on real mortality and morbidity in an unselected population of COPD patients. Monitoring is done at the occasion of regular check-ups, followed by retrospective search of data in the documentation, and a record into the registry.

The project was initiated at the Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses of the Masaryk University (IBA MU) and has continued at the Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses Ltd (IBA Ltd), a university company.

Primary objective of the project:

• To monitor the real mortality and morbidity in a unselected population of COPD patients.

Secondary objectives of the project

• To monitor the decline in lung function, exercise capacity, symptoms and quality of life over time.
• To analyze the differences among monitored parameters in patients with different COPD variants (phenotypes).

Other important information:

• Expert guarantor: Assoc Prof Vitezslav Kolek, MD, PhD; Vladimir Koblizek, MD, PhD
• Partners: 14 lung centres in the Czech Republic (you can find more detailed information on the website of the CHOPN project)
• Brief overview of results: you can find more detailed information on the website of the COPD project