Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major health problem in the UK. It affects approximately 10 percent of the population over 40, accounts for almost 30,000 deaths and over £1 billion in direct health care costs annually.
The COPD research team is led by Professor Michael Polkey, Professor Nicholas Hopkinson and Professor Wisia Wedzicha at Royal Brompton Hospital, and by Dr Will Man at Harefield Hospital.
Current research
- The use of artificial intelligence to help improve early diagnosis of COPD
- Effect of dietary nitrate supplementation (beetroot juice) on exercise capacity and vascular risk in COPD
- Pulmonary rehabilitation following acute hospitalisations of COPD
- Digital mobility outcomes
- Improving referral, uptake and completion of pulmonary rehabilitation
- Optimising the delivery of smoking cessation to maximise impact
- Alternative models of pulmonary rehabilitation including the use of technology
- Lung volume reduction approaches to treat hyperinflation
- Frailty in COPD
- Singing for lung health to improve breathing control
- Using devices to optimise sputum clearance in COPD