Clinical trials are used to determine whether an intervention (treatment) is safe and effective compared to another intervention. Safety and efficacy are evaluated by measuring a range of outcomes (such as measures of quality of life, admission to hospital, or lung function). Clinical trials evaluating interventions for the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations often evaluate heterogeneous outcomes. Outcomes that are important to patients are often missed from the trials. This limits their usability and comparability.
The European Respiratory Society (ERS) has set-up a Task Force aiming to develop a core outcome set (COS). A COS is a consensus-based minimum set of clinically important outcomes that the task force will recommend being evaluated in all future clinical trials on the management of COPD exacerbations. They are looking for people who are healthcare professionals, researchers, patients, and any other stakeholders with an interest in COPD exacerbations. If you would like to get involved, more information is available here: