D Burkhart

TL;DR: Therapy with tiotropium was associated with improvements in lung function, quality of life, and exacerbations during a 4-year period but did not significantly reduce the rate of decline in FEV(1).

TL;DR: The majority of patients with moderate-to-very-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease demonstrate meaningful increases in lung function following administration of inhaled anticholinergic plus sympathomimetic bronchodilators.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that a generic instrument can assess COPD impact on quality of life and that the scores discriminate between patient groups of known severity and that these utility scores will be useful in cost-effectiveness assessments.

TL;DR: A four‐year, controlled clinical trial is initiated in patients with COPD to evaluate the long‐term effects of tiotropium on the rate of decline in lung function and health status as well as the frequency of exacerbations and the rationale for the UPLIFT study is outlined.

TL;DR: This process of mortality adjudication and methodological revisions introduced to help standardise the adjudication of two areas recognised to pose particular difficulty; firstly, the classification of fatal COPD exacerbations that occur in the setting of pneumonia and secondly, the categorisation of sudden death.