Patients at greater risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) could be identified with the help of a polygenic risk score, according to new research.

In a new study conducted by an international team of investigators—led by Martin D. Tobin, PhD, of the University of Leicester, and Michael H. Cho, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital—a polygenic risk score comprised of genome-wide association study of lung function helped predict individuals at increased risk of moderate-to-severe COPD, cigarette smoking-associated emphysema, and reduced lung growth.

The risk score could help inform future COPD mechanism research, eventually benefitting preventive and prognostic developments into a chronic pulmonary condition which is still little-understood and limitedly treated.

Get the full story at mdmag.com.