Medicus, Vol. 25 No. 1 Pneumonije, 2016.
Review article
COPD Phenotypes
Dubravka Pelicarić
Sanja Popović-Grle
Abstract
The treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has a long history of clinical guidelines enabling physicians to apply integrated knowledge through best therapeutic algorithms when treating their patients. The latest studies have used cluster analyses for grouping heterogeneous characteristics into relatively homogenous groups (the subjects in the same group are more similar to each other than to subjects in other groups). This classifies the patients suffering from COPD into the so-called phenotypes. A phenotype is generally defined as a sum of an organism’s external characteristics, and it reflects the interaction of genotypes and the impact of external factors. It encompasses structure and function, as well as morphological, anatomic, physiologic, biochemical and biophysical characteristics. This article deals with the most common COPD phenotypes, mentioned in the largest number of studies: 1. frequent exacerbation phenotype, 2. emphysema-hyperinflation phenotype, 3. rapid decline in lung function phenotype, 4. chronic bronchitis phenotype, 5. systemic manifestations (comorbidities) phenotype, and 6. asthma-COPD overlap syndrome. The phenotype classification has occurred as a result of the fact that the prognosis and therapeutic approach to COPD patients are reliant on the clinical phenotype. The aim of the classification is to group the heterogeneous population of COPD patients into phenotypes with different prognoses and to define an optimal therapeutic approach.
Keywords
COPD; phenotypes; exacerbation; hyperinflation; bronchitis
Hrčak ID:
161778
URI
Publication date:
13.7.2016.
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