VA Cancels Portion of Deadly COPD Study

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has cancelled part of a national study of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) related hospital readmissions in response to grave safety concerns and deaths.

The trial, known as the Bronchitis and Emphysema Advice and Training to Reduce Hospitalization (BREATH) study, was aimed at reducing COPD-related hospital readmissions by providing veterans with education and other disease- management support. However, it was cancelled suddenly in response to safety concerns that researchers and VA officials do not wish to discuss publicly. While researchers have revealed that the deaths were a result of COPD-related conditions and other causes, including accidents, they are keeping quiet on the number of deaths that resulted from the study.

The information may become public at some point. That is because researchers plan to publish the study’s results in an academic journal, a peer-review process that could take up to a year. Dr. Timothy J. O’Leary, deputy chief research and development officer of the VA tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that it is common professional practice to not discuss the details and results of research studies prior to final publication.

Meanwhile, physicians across the nation are speaking out about the lack of training and resources provided to them by their affiliated hospitals to prevent readmissions of patients with COPD, heart failure, pneumonia, coronary artery disease and psychiatric illness.

In a recent study conducted by the Society of Hospital Medicine, more than half (54 percent) of respondents said their organization should provide better training and educational opportunities aimed at reducing readmissions. These were identified as post-discharge follow-up care, condition-specific interventions and discharge communication.

But Dr. Dennis Niewoehner, the co-chair of the VA BREATH study, has urged caution with regard to COPD disease management programs.

“If someone were to start a disease management program, I would suggest they probably not do it just yet, until the information is available,” he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Click Here to Access the Full Story from the Pittsburg Tribune-Review