Joe Chiles, MD

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a lung disease caused by inhalation of cigarette smoke or other noxious gases. People who have COPD and show evidence of weight loss are at higher risk for death and are less able to complete daily activities. Despite the importance of weight loss, it is not always recognized in pulmonary clinics. This research is focused on the effects of an electronic medical record alert to tell providers when their patients are losing weight. For patients who are losing weight, referral to pulmonary rehabilitation will be suggested: this is a program that can improve quality of life and possibly even reverse weight loss. This study will test to see whether this electronic medical record alert changes rates of patient referral to pulmonary rehabilitation and will also test the effects of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with COPD who are losing weight. The hope is to improve the care for patients with COPD who are losing weight. 

Update: 

We have developed and implemented an alert in the electronic medical record to help draw healthcare providers’ attention to changes in weight in patients with COPD and are studying hundreds of patient visits to track the effects of implementing this alert.  We are also beginning our observations of people with COPD who are undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation to see whether people with weight loss receive similar benefits to those without weight loss. By combining the results of these two studies, we hope to pave the way for improving quality of life in people with COPD who are losing weight.