Quiz: What's New in COPD for the New Year

Answer: D. A, B, and C. NICE guidelines recommend that all these factors be considered as well as whether hospitalization may be necessary, the patient’s previous exacerbation and hospital admission history, and risk of complications. The guidelines note that bacterial infections are not always the cause of even severe exacerbations, thus they will not respond to antibiotics.
 

#2. Which of the above recommendation for long-term oxygen (O₂) therapy was NOT new to the 2018 updated NICEover 2016s guidelines?

Answer: A. Assess the need for O₂ therapy in people with very severe airflow obstruction (FEV₁ <30% predicted). The recommendation for assessing the need for oxygen therapy, presented in previous NICE guidelines, included very severe airflow obstruction, cyanosis, polycythemia, peripheral edema, a raised jugular venous pressure, and oxygen saturations of 92% or less breathing air.

#3. The COPD assessment test (CAT) may be used to measure the impact of which condition listed above in affected patients?

Answer: B. Bronchiectasis. In a cross-sectional study, the higher the CAT score, the worse the severity of bronchiectasis, dyspnea, quality of life, and performance on the cardiopulmonary exercise test and the smaller the distance walked on the incremental shuttle walk test and number of steps per day.

#4. True or False: Recent hospitalizations for COPD exacerbations are associated with coronary artery disease adverse events after percutaneous coronary intervention.

Answer: A. True. COPD was independently associated with increased risks of hospital mortality, overall mortality, ischemic events, cerebrovascular events, and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events during follow-up after percutaneous coronary intervention.

#5. A recent study sought to determine what proportion of between-individual variability in COPD symptoms can be explained by lung function vs all other observable characteristics and reported all but which of the above?

Answer: D. The substantial heterogeneity in individual-specific probabilities for occurrence of symptoms was highest for cough and phlegm. The heterogeneity observed was highest for wheeze and dyspnea.