ArticleERJ open research2022
Symptomatic smokers without COPD have physiological changes heralding the development of COPD.
Article in ERJ open research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Developmental Origins of Asthma and COPD.Annual review of physiology · 2026Review
- Small airway dysfunction: a shared, early, measurable, and potentially treatable trait across COPD, asthma, and fibrotic lung disease.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Assessing the Italian version of the respiratory symptom experience scale (IT-RSES) in smokers and former smokers: a validation study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Respiratory Strength Training Versus Respiratory Relaxation Training in the Rehabilitation of Physical Impairment, Function, and Return to Participation After Stroke: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- Structural features on quantitative chest computed tomography of patients with maximal mid-expiratory flow impairment in a normal lung function population.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2023Article
- Impaired exercise capacity in individuals with non-obstructive small airway dysfunction.Journal of thoracic disease · 2023Article
- Small airway function measured using forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of vital capacity and its relationship to airflow limitation in symptomatic ever-smokers: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open respiratory research · 2022Article
- Chronic Bronchitis Affects Outcomes in Smokers without Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence, as a prognostic factor, in current smokers with and without COPD: A cross-sectional study in northern Greece.Chronic respiratory diseaseArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: COPD is a major health problem, mainly due to cigarette smoking. Most studies in COPD are dedicated to fully developed COPD in older subjects, even though development of COPD may start soon after smoking initiation. Therefore, there is a need to diagnose this "early disease" by detecting the initial events responsible for ultimate development of COPD. Methods: Measurement of maximum mid expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of vital capacity (MMEF) in a routine spirometry, which detects small airways disease, was used to investigate if MMEF abnormalities in smokers without COPD (noCOPD) would relate to respiratory symptoms and identify smokers that might progress to COPD. For this purpose we studied 511 smokers, 302 COPD and 209 noCOPD, followed long term with spirometry including MMEF, diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide ( Results: 65% of noCOPD had an abnormal MMEF (<80%) and 38% an abnormal Conclusions: The MMEF, a functional test available in a routine spirometry, can detect early lung abnormalities and identify the subset of symptomatic smokers with pathological changes that might lead to COPD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.