Study to Understand Breathing Difficulty Perception and Treatable Traits in Adults With COPD and Asthma

What this Trial Is About

This research focuses on chronic airway diseases, including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease COPD and asthma, which affect breathing. The study aims to understand how patients perceive breathing difficulties, known as dyspnea perception, which can vary greatly among individuals. Researchers want to classify patients into different subtypes based on their breathing difficulty perception and explore how these relate to other treatable features like blood cell counts, allergy results, lung function tests, and brain imaging. Participants include about 800 patients diagnosed with COPD or asthma and 150 healthy volunteers. No new treatments will be given instead, participants will undergo thorough evaluations including questionnaires on dyspnea and quality of life, lung function tests like spirometry and lung volume, blood tests for immune markers, chest CT scans, and brain scans fMRI for some. Data on health history, medications, and flare-ups will also be collected. Participants will be assessed at the start and followed over approximately three years to track changes. They will complete questionnaires and undergo lung tests, blood sampling, and imaging. The studys main outcomes include measuring dyspnea perception scores and identifying clinical subtypes based on these scores. This observational approach aims to improve understanding of airway diseases and support more personalized care in the future.

Investigation and Classification of Treatable Traits in Patients With Chronic Airway Diseases