scholarly journals Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Symptom Cluster Composition, Associated Factors, and Methodologies: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 019394592199577
Author(s):  
Fei Fei ◽  
Jonathan Koffman ◽  
Xiaohan Zhang ◽  
Wei Gao

This systematic review details symptom clusters, their compositions, and associated factors and appraises the methodologies of studies that reported symptom clusters in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Ten studies were eligible for inclusion in this study. Four common symptom clusters were identified. Two theoretical frameworks, four statistical methods, and various symptom assessment tools were used to identify symptom clusters. Factors associated with symptom clusters included demographic, clinical, and biological factors. No studies examined the subjective experiences of symptom clusters. Overall, inconsistencies were identified in the composition of symptom clusters across studies. This may be due to variations in study design, assessment tools, and statistical methods. Future studies should attempt to arrive at a common definition, especially that is theoretically derived, for symptom clusters, standardize the criteria for symptoms for inclusion in the clusters, and focus on patients’ subjective experience to inform which clusters are clinically relevant.

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. e043377
Author(s):  
Kai Zhu ◽  
Jagdeep Gill ◽  
Ashley Kirkham ◽  
Joel Chen ◽  
Amy Ellis ◽  
...  

IntroductionPulmonary rehabilitation (PR) following an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) reduces the risk of hospital admissions, and improves physical function and health-related quality of life. However, the safety and efficacy of in-hospital PR during the most acute phase of an AECOPD is not well established. This paper describes the protocol for a systematic review with meta-analysis to determine the safety and efficacy of inpatient acute care PR during the hospitalisation phase.Methods and analysisMedical literature databases and registries MEDLINE, EMBASE, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, CENTRAL, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, WHO trials portal and ClinicalTrials.gov will be searched for articles from inception to June 2021 using a prespecified search strategy. We will identify randomised controlled trials that have a comparison of in-hospital PR with usual care. PR programmes had to commence during the hospitalisation and include a minimum of two sessions. Title and abstract followed by full-text screening will be conducted independently by two reviewers. A meta-analysis will be performed if there is sufficient homogeneity across selected studies or groups of studies. The Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcomes and Study characteristics framework will be used to standardise the data collection process. The quality of the cumulative evidence will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations framework.Ethics and disseminationAECOPD results in physical limitations which are amenable to PR. This review will assess the safety and efficacy of in-hospital PR for AECOPD. The results will be presented in a peer-reviewed publication and at research conferences. Ethical review is not required for this study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 269
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Zinellu ◽  
Alessandro G. Fois ◽  
Elisabetta Sotgiu ◽  
Sabrina Mellino ◽  
Arduino A. Mangoni ◽  
...  

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive condition characterized by chronic airway inflammation and lung parenchyma damage. Systemic inflammation and oxidative stress also play a role in the pathogenesis of COPD. Serum albumin is a negative acute-phase protein with antioxidant effects and an important marker of malnutrition. The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate differences in serum albumin concentrations between patients with stable COPD and non-COPD subjects. Methods: A systematic search was conducted, using the terms “albumin” and “chronic obstructive pulmonary disease” or “COPD”, in the electronic databases PubMed and Web of Science, from inception to May 2020. Results: Twenty-six studies were identified on a total of 2554 COPD patients and 2055 non-COPD controls. Pooled results showed that serum albumin concentrations were significantly lower in COPD patients (standard mean difference, SMD = −0.50, 95% CI −0.67 to −0.32; p < 0.001). No significant differences were observed in SMD of serum albumin concentrations between COPD patients with forced expiratory volume in the 1st second (FEV1) < 50% and those with FEV1 > 50%. Conclusions: Our systematic review and meta-analysis showed that serum albumin concentrations are significantly lower in patients with stable COPD compared to non-COPD controls. This supports the presence of a deficit in systemic anti-inflammatory and antioxidant defense mechanisms in COPD.


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