The Eclipse Study To Better Understand COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

Main Category: COPD
Article Date: 25 Mar 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the only major cause  of death that is currently on the increase. As there is no cure,  continued research into the disease and its treatment options is  required. Treatment of COPD is not straightforward, as there are many  subtypes of the disease and we lack methods of identifying these and  ways to measure progression of disease.

In this paper, Jørgen Vestbo (University of Copenhagen and Hvidovre  Hospital, Denmark) and his colleagues describe the outline of the  ECLIPSE study.

ECLIPSE is a unique study in conception, size and cost. Its aim is to  gain a greater understanding of COPD and, ultimately, to define the  parameters that predict disease progression in individuals with  different COPD traits.

It is planned that the ECLIPSE study will recruit 2,180 COPD subjects  in GOLD categories II-IV, 343 smoking and 223 non-smoking control  subjects. Study procedures will be performed at baseline, 3 months  and 6 months, and then every 6 months thereafter. Assessments include  pulmonary function measurements, computed chest tomography,  biomarkers (in blood, sputum, urine and exhaled breath condensate),  health outcomes, 6-min walking distance and other outcomes.

The results of the ECLIPSE study will hopefully be of significance in  understanding one of the world's leading causes of disability and  death, enabling more effective treatments to be developed.

The European Respiratory Journal is the peer-reviewed scientific publication of the European Respiratory Society (more than 8,000 specialists in lung diseases and respiratory medicine in Europe, the United States and Australia).

http://erj.ersjournals.com