Janice M. Leung

TL;DR: Whether patients with COPD have increased expression of ACE-2 in bronchial epithelial cells in the lower respiratory tract is determined, which may explain the increased risk of severe COVID-19 in these subpopulations and highlight the importance of smoking cessation.

TL;DR: A case definition of ACOS is proposed that incorporates these key features in a parsimonious algorithm that may enable clinicians to better diagnose patients with ACOS and enable researchers to design therapeutic and clinical studies to elucidate its epidemiology and pathophysiology and to ascertain its optimal management strategies.

TL;DR: COPD patients have increased risk of severe pneumonia and poor outcomes when they develop COVID-19, and the reporting on cases has concentrated on hospitalised and intensive care unit patients, rather than on mild, outpatient cases.

TL;DR: Using treatments developed for asthma or COPD that target eosinophilic, neutrophilic, or paucigranulocytic airway inflammation may be a helpful approach to patients with ACOS until further clinical trials can be performed.

TL;DR: 59 studies were included, in which the most studied biomarkers were C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), which showed consistent elevations in AECOPD compared to control subjects and mREMARK scores ranged from 6 to 18 (median score of 13).