[Systemic manifestations and comorbidities in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their effect on clinical state and course of the disease--an overview of the cohort study COSYCONET].

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE: The integrated project COSYCONET, as part of the competence network ASCONET funded by the BMBF, has the aim to investigate the relationship between the pulmonary disorder, comorbidities and systemic inflammation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by adopting cross-sectional as well as longitudinal analyses. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH: COSYCONET includes a number of projects addressing the issue of comorbidities at the basic science level. Its core project, however, is the establishment of a cohort of patients with COPD, which is compared with two population-based control cohorts. The COPD cohort will include 3,000 patients, among them 1,500 with severity according to GOLD category I/II and 1,500 with category III/IV. Patients will be recruited in study centers covering all major regions of Germany, and this will be achieved in close cooperation with pneumologists from private practices. After recruitment, patients will be studied upon an initial visit as well as 6 and 18 months later. Each visit includes a comprehensive battery of functional tests and questionnaires that aim at assessing the state of the disease as accurately and completely as feasible, comprising lung function and the individual pattern and risk factors of comorbidities including cardiovascular disorders, metabolic disorders, osteoporosis, exercise capacity, acticity and mental status. In addition blood samples will be taken and asservated in a biobank in order to assess markers of systemic inflammation and aging as well as organ-specific markers. Moreover morphological information on the lung as available from HR-CT pictures that have not been specifically taken for the study will be analysed semi-quantitatively in a central facility and standardised manner. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart , New York.