The study of the ADO index is published in the August 29 edition of The Lancet.
Currently, the BODE index is used by chest physicians to estimate a patient’s risk of death from COPD. The index is based on an assessment of body-mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnea and exercise capacity. However, the BODE index is rarely used in primary care settings where most patient treatment options are managed, because exercise capacity cannot be easily measured in the typical doctor’s office.
“The burden from COPD is so enormous that we need to reach out to any doctors who care for COPD patients. The ADO index can be used in any setting and we hope that it will serve as a basis for more individualized treatment selection in the near future,” said Milo A. Puhan, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and lead author of the study.
COPD affects more than 16 million Americans and it is the only disease among the top 10 causes of death with a rising mortality rate in the United States. It is predicted to be the third largest cause of death by 2020 and has already reached worldwide epidemic proportions.
COPD is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. While smoking is a major risk factor... an estimated 25—45% of patients with COPD have never smoked; the burden of non-smoking COPD is therefore much higher than previously believed. About 3 billion people, half the worldwide population, are exposed to smoke from biomass fuel compared with 1 billion people who smoke tobacco, which suggests that exposure to biomass smoke might be the biggest risk factor for COPD globally.
We review the evidence for the association of COPD with biomass fuel, occupational exposure to dusts and gases, history of pulmonary tuberculosis, chronic asthma, respiratory-tract infections during childhood, outdoor air pollution, and poor socioeconomic status.
VIA- ScienceDaily