Microbiological study of patients hospitalized for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AE-COPD) and the usefulness of analytical and clinical parameters in its identification (VIRAE study)

Ramon Boixeda,1,5 Nuria Rabella,2 Goretti Sauca,3 Maria Delgado,1 Xavier Martinez-Costa1, Montserrat Mauri,1 Vanessa Vicente,1 Elisabet Palomera,4 Mateu Serra-Prat,4 Josep Antón Capdevila11Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital of Mataró, Barcelona, Spain; 2Department of Microbiology, Hospital of Santa Creu and Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain; 3Department of Microbiology, Hospital of Mataró, Barcelona, Spain; 4Department of Research, Hospital of Mataró, Barcelona, Spain; 5Department of Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainPurpose: Respiratory infection is the most common cause for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AE-COPD). The aim of this work was to study the etiology of the respiratory infection in order to assess the usefulness of the clinical and analytical parameters used for COPD identification.Patients and methods: We included 132 patients over a period of 2 years. The etiology of the respiratory infection was studied by conventional sputum, paired serology tests for atypical bacteria, and viral diagnostic techniques (immunochromatography, immunofluorescence, cell culture, and molecular biology techniques). We grouped the patients into four groups based on the pathogens isolated (bacterial versus. viral, known etiology versus unknown etiology) and compared the groups.Results: A pathogen was identified in 48 patients. The pathogen was identified through sputum culture in 34 patients, seroconversion in three patients, and a positive result from viral techniques in 14 patients. No significant differences in identifying etiology were observed in the clinical and analytical parameters within the different groups. The most cost-effective tests were the sputum test and the polymerase chain reaction.Conclusion: Based on our experience, clinical and analytical parameters are not useful for the etiological identification of COPD exacerbations. Diagnosing COPD exacerbation is difficult, with the conventional sputum test for bacterial etiology and molecular biology techniques for viral etiology providing the most profitability. Further studies are necessary to identify respiratory syndromes or analytical parameters that can be used to identify the etiology of new AE-COPD cases without the laborious diagnostic techniques.Keywords: respiratory viruses, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, exacerbation, diagnostic tests, hospitalizatio

Història gràfica de la Segarra

Direcció: Max Turull Rubinat ; coordinació: Elena Armengol Cera ... [et al.] ; selecció i textos: M. Dolors Allué Albareda ... [et al.].El volum que teniu a les mans representa i és, sens dubte, el testimoni gràfic més complet de la nostra historia recent, reflex fidel d'un temps pretèrit, però no tan allunyant per a nosaltres, entranyable per tot un seguit de raons i, naturalment, emotiu en tots els ordres per a tots aquells que conformen part d'aquesta comunitat segarrenca. Al llarg de les seves pagines, que ens transporten en un viatge imaginen, es pot recórrer el que ha estat la historia de la comarca, els esdeveniments més importants que varen succeir, les festes i tradicions, moltes encara avui, sortosament, arrelades i altres, malauradament, desaparegudes. També es pot reviure el desenvolupament de les activitats de tota mena, tant econòmiques com industrials, educatives, laborals, etc., que representaven els pilars fonamentals de la vida econòmica i social de la Segarra..