Viral Profile of COPD Exacerbations According to Patients§

Dimopoulos, G; Tsiodras, S; Lerikou, M; Chranioti, Aik; Perros, E; Anagnostopoulou, U; Karakitsos, P; Armaganidis, A

We have previously conducted a 2 year prospective study focused on the infectious etiology of AECOPD [10] . Briefly, in this cohort study, all patients (aged 40-90 years) who have visited the Emergency Department of a tertiary care hospital and were admitted into an inpatient facility because of a COPD exacerbation (according to GOLD criteria), without hospitalization during the last three months or use of antibiotics during the last 30 days and without a diagnosis of bronchial asthma were included [8] . The patients reported no history of infection during the last month and were not receiving systemic corticosteroid therapy. The study period lasted from January 2008 to June 2010. The study has taken approval by the ethical committee of the hospital and all the patients recruited in the study signed written informed consent. In the absence of a clear definition for "elderly" patient in the medical literature, the age cut off chosen for this study was based on the World Health Organization (WHO) definition for elderly. According to this statement most developed world countries have accepted the chronological age of 65 years as a definition of "elderly" or older person. While this definition is considered somewhat arbitrary, however it is usually associated with the age at which a person can begin to receive pension benefits. Currently, there is no United Nations standard numerical criterion, but the UN agreed to a cutoff of 60+ years in order to refer to the older population [11] [12] [13] [14] .