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The causes and consequences of seasonal variation in COPD exacerbations

The time of year when patients experience exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a much-overlooked feature of the disease. The higher incidence of exacerbations in winter has important consequences for patients in terms of increased morbidity and mortality. The seasonality also im...

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Autores principales: Donaldson, Gavin C, Wedzicha, Jadwiga A
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove Medical Press 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4199860/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25336941
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S54475
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author Donaldson, Gavin C
Wedzicha, Jadwiga A
author_facet Donaldson, Gavin C
Wedzicha, Jadwiga A
author_sort Donaldson, Gavin C
collection PubMed
description The time of year when patients experience exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a much-overlooked feature of the disease. The higher incidence of exacerbations in winter has important consequences for patients in terms of increased morbidity and mortality. The seasonality also imposes a considerable burden on already-overloaded health care services, with both primary care consultations and hospital admissions increasing in number. The seasonality of exacerbations varies with latitude, and is greater in more temperate climates, where there may be less protection from outdoor and indoor cold exposure. The precise causes of the seasonality are unknown, but thought to be partly due to the increased prevalence of respiratory viral infections circulating in cold, damp conditions. Increased susceptibility to viral infection may also be a mechanism mediated through increased airway inflammation or possibly reduced vitamin D levels. The seasonality of exacerbations informs us about the triggers of exacerbations and suggests possible strategies to reduce their number.
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spelling pubmed-41998602014-10-21 The causes and consequences of seasonal variation in COPD exacerbations Donaldson, Gavin C Wedzicha, Jadwiga A Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis Review The time of year when patients experience exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a much-overlooked feature of the disease. The higher incidence of exacerbations in winter has important consequences for patients in terms of increased morbidity and mortality. The seasonality also imposes a considerable burden on already-overloaded health care services, with both primary care consultations and hospital admissions increasing in number. The seasonality of exacerbations varies with latitude, and is greater in more temperate climates, where there may be less protection from outdoor and indoor cold exposure. The precise causes of the seasonality are unknown, but thought to be partly due to the increased prevalence of respiratory viral infections circulating in cold, damp conditions. Increased susceptibility to viral infection may also be a mechanism mediated through increased airway inflammation or possibly reduced vitamin D levels. The seasonality of exacerbations informs us about the triggers of exacerbations and suggests possible strategies to reduce their number. Dove Medical Press 2014-10-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4199860/ /pubmed/25336941 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S54475 Text en © 2014 Donaldson and Wedzicha. This work is published by Dove Medical Press Limited, and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Review
Donaldson, Gavin C
Wedzicha, Jadwiga A
The causes and consequences of seasonal variation in COPD exacerbations
title The causes and consequences of seasonal variation in COPD exacerbations
title_full The causes and consequences of seasonal variation in COPD exacerbations
title_fullStr The causes and consequences of seasonal variation in COPD exacerbations
title_full_unstemmed The causes and consequences of seasonal variation in COPD exacerbations
title_short The causes and consequences of seasonal variation in COPD exacerbations
title_sort causes and consequences of seasonal variation in copd exacerbations
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4199860/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25336941
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S54475
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