To investigate the causal roles of environmental factors and viruses on exacerbations of COPD

慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）是一种常见的肺部疾病，最常由吸烟引起。许多患者患有由胸部感染引起的慢性阻塞性肺病反复发作。这些感染通常是由病毒引起的，治疗和预防很重要。感染会导致疾病症状恶化，而且关于病毒易感性的信息不足，无法预防胸部感染或住院。本研究将探讨环境因素如污染和温度对社区病毒传播、COPD患者日常症状和感染可能性的影响。在全国范围内，将使用大型中央数据库进行研究，然后在个体患者层面进行更详细的研究。这些信息将有助于改善卫生保健资源的组织，对患者和卫生保健提供者都有好处，特别是在冬季和病人应该意识到症状和病毒感染增加的高峰时期。随着慢性阻塞性肺病感染新抗病毒治疗方法的未来发展，这些信息也将有助于提供有关何时应给予这些药物最大效果的信息。

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common lung condition most often caused by smoking. Many patients suffer from repeated flare-ups of COPD caused by chest infections. These infections are commonly caused by viruses and are important to treat and ideally prevent. Infections contribute to worsening symptoms of the disease and there is insufficient information about susceptibility to viruses to prevent chest infections or hospital admissions from happening. This study will investigate the environmental factors such as pollution and temperature on viruses circulating in the community on every day symptoms and likelihood of catching infections in COPD. Nationally this will be studied using large central databases and then more detailed study will be done at an individual patient level. This information will be of benefit to both patients and health care providers by helping to improve the organisation of health care resources, particularly in the winter and highlight times when patients should be aware of increased symptoms and viral infections. With the future development of new antiviral treatments for COPD infections this information will also help provide information as to when these drugs should be given to maximal effect.