Preliminary results of relationship between appetite and clinical presentation of COPD patients in AERIS study

Patients with COPD experience weight loss with disease progression, which can partially be attributed to loss of appetite most obviously around exacerbations. There is a need to better understand the role that differences in appetite may play in the resilience to infection. We sought to determine whether patients with poor appetite have subsequently more exacerbations and shorter time to first exacerbation (TTFE). Appetite was measured with Council on Nutrition appetite questionnaire (CNAQ, 8 questions) in 127 moderate to severe stable COPD patients from AERIS study (NCT 01360398) at enrolment. Differences in exacerbation history over the previous 12 months, exacerbation rate over the 12 months follow-up, TTFE and TLCO, FEV 1 , FEV 1 /FVC were compared between those with/without a poor appetite (CNAQ score Those with a poor appetite by CNAQ score had a higher exacerbation rate (+29%**), shorter TTFE (median 40 days IQR 115 vs 77 days IQR 252; p=0.018) and lower FEV 1 (-18%*), FEV 1 /FVC (-16%*) and TLCO (-13%*) than those with a better appetite [*p Identifying poor appetite using simple tools such as CNAQ during routine consultations of COPD patients should be considered as an additional risk predictor of COPD exacerbations.