The Copenhagen City Heart Study Experience and its Key Contributions to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

Although the principal aim of the Copenhagen City Heart Study (CCHS) was to investigate risk factors for ischaemic heart disease, it already started including spirometry and a questionnaire on respiratory symptoms from its start in 1976. Longitudinal design including five examination rounds and follow-up of hospitalisations, mortality and medically treated exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) gave a great opportunity to study different aspects of the natural history of COPD. Since 1988, more than 100 papers on different aspects of obstructive lung diseases have been published. Among the most quoted are publications on lung function decline in asthma, trajectories leading to COPD, analyses describing positive association between physical activity and COPD, role of nutritional status for prognosis of COPD, and a nested intervention study showing no effect of an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) on lung function decline among individuals with mild COPD. The present review describes some of these studies. (BRN Rev.