Identifying viral infections in vaccinated Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients using clinical features and inflammatory markers

Abstract

Background: Known inflammatory markers have limited sensitivity and specificity to differentiate viral respiratory tract infections from other causes of acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD). To overcome this, we developed a multi-factorial prediction model combining viral symptoms with inflammatory markers. Methods: Interleukin-6 (IL-6), serum amyloid A (SAA) and viral symptoms were measured in stable COPD and at AECOPD onset and compared with the viral detection rates on multiplex PCR. The predictive accuracy of each measure was assessed using logistic regression and receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) analysis. Results: There was a total of 33 viruses detected at the onset of 148..