The CATALINA study: The contribution of breath analysis and home-based biomonitoring to standardized qualitative care and follow-up for acute COPD exacerbations

COPD is the fourth leading cause of death while producing an enormous cost on the health system. Despite its pandemic proportions and its huge impact, the disease is poorly understood. In particular, acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) which are driving the diseases process are poorly managed with 10% hospital related mortality, 30% 3-month readmission rates and 25% mortality within one year. Particularly striking is the lack of knowledge on the heterogenous origin of acute exacerbations and our insufficient insight on how these differences affect treatment and follow-up. Currently, the diagnostics of AECOPD are mainly clinical features, clinical questionnaires and a limited number of technical tests such as spirometry, six minutes walking test and laboratory. While proven their utility, these tests are not specific and do not grasp the full picture of the disease. CICERO is a pan European research collaboration between European expert centers, the European Respiratory Society, the European Lung foundation and pharmaceutical industry. Our goal is to create a standardized qualitative care and follow-up for AECOPD with focus on the characterization of phenotypes and endotypes. This PhD project is part of the CICERO objectives and will focus on breath analysis (VOCS) and homebased biomonitoring during and after the AECOPD. We hypothesize that both methods will bring more insight in the key components that one may target to improve current treatment strategies and long-term outcomes.