Respiratory Impairment in Aging Populations
Description: PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: It is essential that respiratory impairment be established with a high level of diagnostic relevance, because respiratory and non-respiratory factors can both lead to respiratory symptoms, especially when multimorbidity is prevalent (as in aging populations). Consequently, using existing databases from multiple aging populations, including U.S. Veterans, we propose to evaluate and compare the validity of an alternative, more age- appropriate spirometric method for establishing respiratory impairment, termed Lambda-Mu-Sigma (LMS), relative to the current spirometric standards from the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease and the American Thoracic Society. Our proposed research has high clinical relevance for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). In particular, because VHA patients are older and have increased multimorbidity, they are at high risk of poor outcomes, if respiratory symptoms are incorrectly attributed to a spirometric respiratory impairment such as COPD, and if respiratory therapies such as bronchodilators are inappropriately prescribed.
Funding type: grant
Funder scheme: I01
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Investigator: CARLOS A. VAZ FRAGOSO
Institution: VA CONNECTICUT HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Funded outputs count: 2
Funder award ID: 1i01cx000927-01a1
OpenAlex ID: G4916782903