Do COPD subtypes really exist? COPD heterogeneity and clustering in 10 independent cohorts.

ABSTRACT:

Background

COPD is a heterogeneous disease, but there is little consensus on specific definitions for COPD subtypes. Unsupervised clustering offers the promise of 'unbiased' data-driven assessment of COPD heterogeneity. Multiple groups have identified COPD subtypes using cluster analysis, but there has been no systematic assessment of the reproducibility of these subtypes.

Objective

We performed clustering analyses across 10 cohorts in North America and Europe in order to assess the reproducibility of (1) correlation patterns of key COPD-related clinical characteristics and (2) clustering results.

Methods

We studied 17 146 individuals with COPD using identical methods and common COPD-related characteristics across cohorts (FEV₁, FEV₁/FVC, FVC, bo

SUBMITTER: Castaldi PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6013053 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature