Respirology : official journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology
-
Observational Study
Physical comorbidities affect physical activity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a prospective cohort study.
The prevalence of physical comorbidities such as obesity, musculoskeletal or neurological conditions in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is high, yet little is known about the impact of these physical comorbidities on physical activity. The primary aim of the study was to compare the physical activity levels of people with COPD with physical comorbidities (COPD + PC) to people with COPD without physical comorbidities (COPD) and healthy age-matched volunteers (control group). ⋯ People with COPD + PC had significantly lower daily physical activity levels compared with people with COPD without physical comorbidities and healthy people.
-
Comparative Study Observational Study
Discriminative and predictive properties of multidimensional prognostic indices of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a validation study in Taiwanese patients.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a pulmonary disease with systemic involvement. Several multidimensional indices have been developed to predict long-term outcomes. However, these indices have not been compared and validated in Taiwanese patients with COPD. ⋯ ADO, BODEx and CPI scores are useful predictors of all-cause mortality with significantly discriminative properties in Taiwanese patients with COPD.
-
Although randomization provides a gold-standard method of assessing causal relationships, it is not always possible to randomly allocate exposures. Where exposures are not randomized, estimating exposure effects is complicated by confounding. The traditional approach to dealing with confounding is to adjust for measured confounding variables within a regression model for the outcome variable. ⋯ These estimated propensity scores can then be used in various ways-matching, stratification, covariate-adjustment or inverse-probability weighting-to obtain estimates of the exposure effect. In this paper, we provide an introduction to propensity score methodology and review its use within respiratory health research. We illustrate propensity score methods by investigating the research question: 'Does personal smoking affect the risk of subsequent asthma?' using data taken from the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study.