For patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the presence of airway-occluding mucus plugs is associated with increased all-cause mortality, according to a study published online May 21 in the Journal of the American Medical Association to coincide with the American Thoracic Society’s 2023 International Conference, held from May 19 to 24 in Washington, D.C.
Alejandro A. Diaz, M.D., M.P.H., from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues conducted an observational retrospective analysis involving patients with a diagnosis of COPD in the Genetic Epidemiology of COPD cohort to examine whether airway mucus plugs identified on chest computed tomography are associated with increased all-cause mortality. The primary analysis included 4,483 participants with COPD who were aged 45 to 80 years and who smoked at least 10 pack-years.
The researchers found that 59.3, 21.8, and 18.9 percent of participants had mucus plugs in zero, one to two, and three or more lung segments, respectively. A total of 1,769 participants (40.6 percent) died during a median follow-up of 9.5 years. Participants who had mucus plugs in zero, one to two, and three or more lung segments had mortality rates of 34.0, 46.7, and 54.1 percent, respectively.
