New research studies seek to improve diagnosis and treatment for emphysema and other lung diseases

Why do some smokers develop lung disease and others don't? And just how effective is supplemental oxygen therapy in treating patients with emphysema?

The University of Michigan Health System will try to find out, through two new multi-center research studies that seek to improve diagnosis and treatment for millions of people affected by emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other lung diseases. Together, those conditions are known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Both studies are now accepting new participants.

While smoking is the leading cause of COPD, only 25 percent of smokers develop the disease. For the COPDGeneTM study, U-M will enroll hundreds of current or former smokers - with and without COPD - between 45 and 80 years of age to discover the inherited factors that make some people more likely to develop COPD. U-M is one of 21 leading medical centers participating in the study, which will enroll more than 12,000 people across the United States.

COPDGeneTM is one of the first COPD studies to include a large percentage of African American participants. Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health and National Jewish Health, the study will include people with mild to very severe COPD, and people without the disease to serve as comparisons.

U-M also needs hundreds of participants with COPD 40 years of age or older for the Long-term Oxygen Treatment Trial (LOTT), which will study the effect of continuous (24-hour) supplement oxygen therapy on patients with COPD. LOTT is funded by the NHLBI and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"To be selected to participate in two groundbreaking COPD clinical trials demonstrates the depth and breath of U-M's significant achievements in diagnosing, treating and preventing COPD," says Fernando J. Martinez, M.D., M.S., director of Pulmonary Diagnostic Services, professor of internal medicine and principal investigator for both clinical trials. "Furthermore, within the next several months new studies for improved diagnosis and therapy of COPD patients will be starting,' noted Dr. Martinez.

"Unlocking the keys to the genetic disposition of COPD and the efficacy of oxygen therapy can go far in making life better for the millions affected by COPD," Martinez says.