Research Article on COPD

Introduction

Research in whichever subject of study is very important as it permits us to be a step ahead of the ever-changing environment. Research in the field of medicine, for instance, is very crucial; doctors, nurses, and different health care providers are in a position to design and come up with better methods of handling and treating patients struggling from a certain condition. Diseases are known to evolve with time; this potential that new drugs and new modes of treatment want to be developed and designed. Without research, this would be practically impossible; the following is an insight into lookup article written by various authors on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Article 1

Little was known about the severity and comorbidity of COPD as attributed by antioxidant enzymatic activities. Mohamed, Gutta, Ansari, Venka and Jamil carried a research on the topic and published an article in the year 2017. The primary objective of the research was to investigate the correlation between erythrocytes antioxidants enzymes with severity and comorbidity of COPD. 127 COPD patients and 59 healthy people as control experiment were used as subjects in this research. According to their results, patients with COPD showed higher decrease in ligandins (currently known as GST) and enzymes that prohibit destructive oxidation (abbreviated GPx). A regression analysis done confirmed that there was a large difference in Glutathione peroxidase effect on COPD (diabetes type II) and glutathione-s-transfer in COPD (heart disorder).

It was concluded that there is great correlation between GPx and GST in the severity of COPD. GPx and GST influenced comorbidities significantly only in patients with diabetes type two. The objective of the research was met as the correlation between antioxidants with severity and comorbidity of COPD was established. The design including the sample size was sufficient to give results that are close to the actual. The research only considered comorbidity of COPD with only two chronic diseases. The results would still be achievable if other disorders were included in the research, making the article more comprehensive. The conclusions were supported by the data recorded and analyzed (the p-value is clearly indicated in the results) making the paper effective and convincing.

Article 2

Pulmonary rehabilitation, commonly abbreviated PR, is a recommended mediation by physicist in the attempt of reducing the risks of cardiovascular attack in patients with COPD. Its effectiveness however is unknown. A research was conducted by Aldabayan, Alrajeh, Lemson and Hurst in the year 2017 to investigate the effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation in control of cardiovascular disorders in patients with COPD. Their main objective was to review whether the pulmonary rehabilitation contributes to the alteration of cardiovascular disorder in COPD patients. Data was collected from patient’s electronic database. The research produced 767 cases that matched, which were then filtered using the criteria of exclusion. The information available, however, was insufficient to enable the researchers reach a conclusion. The controversy remains.

The objective of the research was not met. The experimental method of researching from secondary data resulted to the failure of the research. Some of the improvements that required to be made were to get first-hand information from patients as some hospitals still record patients’ data on papers and such information may not be available for such a research. The conclusions were supported by the data obtained; the data was insufficient and therefore could not establish whether pulmonary rehabilitation has any affiliations with cardiovascular risk in patients with COPD. The paper fails to be efficient and effective as it arrives to no conclusion.

Article 3

It is established that smoking can worsen conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, the correlation between adherence to physicist recommendations and smoking status of those patients having chronic disorders had never been established. Hayes-Watson, Nuss, Tseng, Parada, Celestin and Moody did a research and published an article in the year 2017 on self-management practices of smokers suffering from chronic diseases such as asthma and COPD. The main objective of this research was to search for the existence of any relationship between adherence to self-care measures and the smoking status of a chronic condition patient. These measures included prescription taking, maintaining prescribed vaccinations, medication filling, carrying drugs with oneself and proper utilization of health facilities.

The study used a sample of 84 patients. Their years ranged from 40-64. These patients were diagnosed with either asthma or COPD. Results after data collection and analysis showed that patients who smoke did not adhere to filling of their medication, prescription taking and neither did they follow yearly fascinations as non-smokers did. It was concluded that smoking significantly affect the levels of adherence to medical measures. The objectives of the study were halfway met. The result fails to indicate whether measures such as carrying drug with oneself and proper utilization of healthcare facility are in any way affected by smoking. The design including the sample size was sufficient to enable realization of all objectives; however, inclusion of gender in the research would have resulted in a more comprehensive result and conclusion. The results were supported by the p-value obtained after data analysis that showed the probability of the outcomes in relation to the upper most possible outcome. The report is effective and convincing based on the research design, findings, and the conclusion.

Article 4

Spleen contraction raises the capacity of the blood to hold and carry oxygen during a time of strenuous exercise. It does this by ejecting red blood cells store in it into the circulation system. This process prevents the occurrence of hypoxia condition. People living with COPD condition often limit their physical exercises, as their probability of experiencing hypoxia is very high. It is, however, not established whether spleen contraction occurs in patients with COPD. In the year 2005, Schagatay, Hubinette, Lodin-Sundström, Engan & Stenfors did a research and published an article with an objective of investigating whether contraction of spleen occurs in COPD patients during exercises.

24 spleen’s initial volume from COPD patients were measure and recorded before exercise and after six-minute of walking exercise. The result showed that the spleen volume decreased from 254 ml to 181 ml. a conclusion was made that exercise results in the contraction of spleen in COPD patients. Contraction acts as a protective response to hypoxia. The objective of this study was clearly met. However, the research design is faulty; it failed to include a control experiment. We do not know whether the rate of contraction is similar in healthy and in COPD patients. The p-value is clearly indicated in the results indicating that that the conclusions are based on the data collected and analyzed. Based on the magnitude and the breadth of the study, the article is effective and convincing.

Article 5

Little was known about environmental triggers that result in worsening of symptoms in patients suffering from COPD. Sama, Kriebel, Gore, DeVries & Rosiello hypothesized that patients report of chemical irritation depends on the characteristics of the condition/s they are suffering from; among them asthma and COPD. This led them to conducting their research, which was published in the year 2015.

167 COPD patients were used as subjects in this research. The design was a survey research. Patients were requested to fill questionnaires relating to their daily activities, specifically those activities that brought them into contact with chemicals or fumigants that irritated their respiratory systems. The results indicated that more than half of COPD patients had trouble with breathing when exposed to dusty, smelly of highly fumigated environment. It was concluded that environmental exposures increase the demand for rescue medication and the risk of symptom worsening. The results fail to reject the alternative hypotheses put forward. The design was appropriate, as there is no other way respiratory irritation could be measured except by use of questionnaires. The conclusion, however, was not fully supported by the data as the results gave a vague number (more than half) of people who showed positive outcome. Owing to the large number of the sample size, the report is effective and convincing.

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References

Aldabayan, Y. S., Alrajeh, A. M., Lemson, A., & Hurst, J. R. (2017). Pulmonary rehabilitation and cardiovascular risk in COPD: a systematic review. COPD Research and Practice, 3(1), 7.

Hayes-Watson, C., Nuss, H., Tseng, T. S., Parada, N., Yu, Q., Celestin, M., ...& Moody-Thomas, S. (2017). Self-management practices of smokers with asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a cross-sectional survey. COPD Research and Practice, 3(1), 3.

Mohammed, A., Gutta, V., Ansari, M. S., Venkata, R. S., & Jamil, K. (2017). Altered antioxidant enzyme activity with severity and comorbidities of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in South Indian population. COPD Research and Practice, 3(1), 4.

Sama, S. R., Kriebel, D., Gore, R. J., DeVries, R., & Rosiello, R. (2015). Environmental triggers of COPD symptoms: a cross sectional survey. COPD Research and Practice, 1(1), 12.

Schagatay, E., Hubinette, A., Lodin-Sundström, A., Engan, H., &Stenfors, N. (2015). Exercise induced hemoconcentration following spleen contraction in subjects with COPD. COPD Research and Practice, 1(1), 13.