Drivers of year-to-year variation in exacerbation frequency of COPD: analysis of the AERIS cohort.

The association between exacerbation aetiology and exacerbation frequency is poorly understood. We analysed 2-year follow-up data from a prospective observational study of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (www.clinicaltrials.gov identifier number NCT01360398) to evaluate year-to-year variation in exacerbation frequency and related aetiology. A total of 127 patients underwent blood and sputum sampling monthly and at exacerbation to detect respiratory infections and eosinophilic inflammation; 103 continued into year 2 and 88 completed both years. The most common bacterial species at stable state and exacerbation was

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Conflict of interest: T.M.A. Wilkinson reports grants and nonfinancial support from GSK during the conduct of the study; and support for travel and meeting attendance from Boehringer Ingelheim, and grants and support for travel and meeting attendance from AstraZeneca, outside the submitted work. Conflict of interest: E. Aris is an employee of GSK. Conflict of interest: S.C. Bourne has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: S.C. Clarke reports grants from GSK, during the conduct of the study; and grants from Pfizer, outside the submitted work. Conflict of interest: M. Peeters is an employee of GSK. Conflict of interest: T.G. Pascal is an employee of GSK group of companies and owns restricted shares. Conflict of interest: L. Taddei has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A.C. Tuck has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: V.L. Kim reports grants from GSK Biologicals SA during the conduct of the study and outside the submitted work. Conflict of interest: K.K. Ostridge has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: K.J. Staples reports grants from GSK Biologicals SA during the conduct of the study; and grants from Asthma UK (08/026), grants from BMA HC Roscoe Award, outside the submitted work. In addition, K.J. Staples has a patent PCT/GB2010/050821 “Ex Vivo Modelling of Therapeutic Interventions” pending. Conflict of interest: N.P. Williams has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A.P. Williams has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: S.A. Wootton reports grants and nonfinancial support from GSK during the conduct of the study. Conflict of interest: J-M. Devaster is an employee of, and holds shares and restricted shares in GSK.