ArticleChest2024
Silent Airway Mucus Plugs in COPD and Clinical Implications.
Article in Chest, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Oscillating Positive Expiratory Pressure (OPEP) Therapy in Bronchiectasis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): A Narrative Review of Clinical Studies.Pulmonary therapy · 2026Pooled it
- Quantitative computed tomography and predictive modelling for COPD exacerbations.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2025Pooled it
- Radiologist and AI performance in detecting mucus plugs on chest CT.European radiology · 2026Article
- COPD Biologics: Right Patient, Right Pathway, Right Time.Pulmonary therapy · 2026Review
- Airway mucus plugs in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: pathobiology, imaging, and implications for clinical trials.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2026Review
- Association of Airway Mucus Plugs and Physical Activity, Exercise Tolerance, Sarcopenia, and Frailty in Patients With COPD and Pre-COPD.Respirology (Carlton, Vic.) · 2026Observational
- Precision treatment of COPD based on novel imaging phenotypes: a treatable traits approach.Respiratory research · 2026Review
- Structural and cellular mechanisms of mucus plugging in the larger airways.Chinese medical journal pulmonary and critical care medicine · 2026Review
- A Brief History of COPD: As Told by Some of Its Senior Scientists and Clinicians.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Distinct central and peripheral airway features in bronchiolitis obliterans and COPD: an observational study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Observational
- Review
- Mucus Plugs and Eosinophilic Inflammation: Expanding the Paradigm to COPD.The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. In practice · 2026Review
- A simple index for predicting mucus plugs in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2026Article
- Mucus plugs-associated gene expression identifies pathophysiology shared with chronic bronchitis.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2026Article
- Molecular echoes of mucus plugging in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2026Article
- Application of machine learning models for predicting risk factors of acute exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Narrative review: mucus plugging in chronic obstructive lung diseases and bronchiectasis.European clinical respiratory journal · 2026Review
- Association of Mucus Plugging and Body Mass Index in Patients With Advanced COPD GOLD 3/4 With Emphysema.Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (Miami, Fla.) · 2025Article
- A deep learning-based automated detection of mucus plugs in chest computed tomography.ERJ open research · 2025Article
- Clinical Burden of People with Symptomatic and Exacerbating COPD While on Triple Inhaled Therapy.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
24 authors at 7 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAirway mucus plugs are frequently identified on CT scans of patients with COPD with a smoking history without mucus-related symptoms (ie, cough, phlegm [silent mucus plugs]). RESEARCH QUESTION: In patients with COPD, what are the risk and protective factors associated with silent airway mucus plugs? Are silent mucus plugs associated with functional, structural, and clinical measures of disease? STUDY DESIGN AND
methodsWe identified mucus plugs on chest CT scans of participants with COPD from the COPDGene study. The mucus plug score was defined as the number of pulmonary segments with mucus plugs, ranging from 0 to 18, and categorized into three groups (0, 1-2, and ≥ 3). We determined risk and protective factors for silent mucus plugs and the associations of silent mucus plugs with measures of disease severity using multivariable linear and logistic regression models.
resultsOf 4,363 participants with COPD, 1,739 had no cough or phlegm. Among the 1,739 participants, 627 (36%) had airway mucus plugs identified on CT scan. Risk factors of silent mucus plugs (compared with symptomatic mucus plugs) were older age (OR, 1.02), female sex (OR, 1.40), and Black race (OR, 1.93) (all P values < .01). Among those without cough or phlegm, silent mucus plugs (vs absence of mucus plugs) were associated with worse 6-min walk distance, worse resting arterial oxygen saturation, worse FEV
interpretationMucus plugs are common in patients with COPD without mucus-related symptoms. Silent mucus plugs are associated with worse functional, structural, and clinical measures of disease. CT scan-identified mucus plugs can complement the evaluation of patients with 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.