Highlights of an Expert Advisory Board on Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (AE-COPD) in Latin America

Abstract

Laura Naranjo,1 Carlos A Torres-Duque,2 Daniel Colodenco,3 Gustavo Lopardo,4 Pablo Rodriguez,5 Aldo Agra de Albuquerque-Neto,6 Rafael J Hernandez-Zenteno,7 Luis Septien,8 Reynaldo Chandler,9 Eduardo Ortega-Barria,1 Patricia Juliao,1 Adriana Guzman-Holst1 1GSK, Panama City, Panama; 2Fundación Neumológica Colombiana, Bogota, Colombia; 3Director of Pneumology Specialization Course, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina; 4FUNCEI-Bernardo Houssay Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina; 5Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, CEMIC, Buenos Aires, Argentina; 6Pulmonary Rehabilitation Unit, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, Brazil; 7MSc Head of COPD Clinic at National Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Mexico City, Mexico; 8Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, National Institute of Nutrition Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico; 9Education and Investigation Coordination Unit, San Miguel Arcangel Hospital, Ministry of Health, Panama City, PanamaCorrespondence: Adriana Guzman-Holst; Patricia JuliaoGSK, Ciudad Del Saber, Building 230, Panama City, PanamaTel [phone]Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a preventable and usually progressive lung disease that affects millions of people worldwide and is the sixth leading cause of death in the Americas. Viral and bacterial respiratory tract infections and air pollution may cause acute exacerbations of COPD (AE-COPD) ranging from mild, moderate to severe. The greatest proportion of the overall COPD burden on the health system is due to disease exacerbations. There is limited evidence regarding the etiology and burden of AE-COPD in Latin America (LATAM).Methods: To respond to this gap in evidence, an Advisory Board with regional pneumologists and infectious disease experts was convened in September 2018 in Panama City, Panama, to: 1) review the burden of AE-COPD in LATAM; 2) evaluate the etiology of AE-COPD in LATAM; and 3) assess and compare the local/regional guidelines to confirm the etiology, characterize, and manage AE-COPD.Results: The results of the meeting showed that there is a high prevalence of AE-COPD in LATAM countries, limited evidence on etiology data, and discrepancies in the case definitions and symptomology (ie, severity) classifications used in LATAM.Conclusion: The Advisory Board discussions further resulted in recommendations for future research on the impact on the epidemiology and burden of disease, on establishing standardized AE-COPD case definition guidelines, and on studying the etiology of both moderate and severe AE-COPD cases.Keywords: COPD, exacerbations, diagnosis, epidemiology, etiology, consensus

Keywords

• copd
• exacerbations
• diagnosis
• epidemiology
• etiology
• consensus