CURE

Copenhagen Unit for Respiratory Epidemiology (CURE) will perform state-of-the-art epidemiological research based in Danish national health registers to answer current important questions regarding patients with chronic pulmonary diseases like chronic obstructive lung disease and interstitial lung diseases. Members of CURE are a mix of highly skilled researchers with a background in medical epidemiology and trials published in journals like The Lancet and other important medical journals, and junior investigators (typically PhD students) who coordinate and run one or more projects. The philosophy of the group is that epidemiology, basic research and randomized trials work well together to generate, explore and answer core scientific questions within respiratory medicine. All these key approaches will be used in the COPD Trial Initiative (COP:TRIN) and CURE is the epidemiological branch of the network.

At CURE we strive to create high quality research living up to strict ethical and professional standards. As a part of this endeavor we always publish study protocols for all our projects ahead of the studies.

We do this for several reasons:

1. To reduce publication bias and selective reporting of scientific results.
   Positive results are often more likely to be published than negative results. This causes a warped understanding of the phenomena studied and increases the likelihood of unreproducible results being published. We wish to limit this by being open about all research we perform independently of the results.
2. To prevent others from repeating studies that have already been done (but not published).
   Publication bias also causes a waste of valuable research and healthcare resources in attempting to find results that have been shown many times not to be possible, but never published. These resources could instead be spent on more promising research or on providing better healthcare to the patients
3. To promote transparency in lung research.
   Our goal is to improve the treatment and quality of life in patients with lung diseases. This goal is best achieved through scientific cooperation and sharing of work, ideas and results. 
4. To inform patients and the general public about any ongoing studies.
   We wish to share our work with anyone with an interest in lung research, no matter if they are scientists, healthcare professionals, patients or have no relevant background.

The projects at CURE are organized in three clusters in order to facilitate cooperation.

The clusters are:

Cluster A: Inhaled corticosteroids and metabolic syndrome
Coordinator: Pradeesh Sivapalan

Cluster B: Inhaled corticosteroids, infections and side effects of these
Coordinator: Josefin Eklöf

Cluster C: The risk of cardiac events in COPD patients under various medical treatment.
Coordinator: Imane Achir

• Risk of increased mortality and cardiovascular events in patients with COPD treated with clarithromycin
• Calcium supplement for COPD patients – Cardiovascular risk- KALKOL
• Depressive symptoms in relationship with smoking cessation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Treatment of exacerbation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Influence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the prognosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Risk of pneumonia and death in outpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treated with different lengths of corticosteroids
• ICS and risk of Hemophilus influenza
• Long-term use of inhaled corticosteroids and the risk of developing type 2-diabetes in COPD
• Use of ICS and risk of osteoporosis and osteoporosis related fractures in COPD patients
• Use of inhaled corticosteroids and the risk of new onset depression in COPD patients
• Effect of amlopidin on risk of COPD exacerbation in patients moderate to severe COPD patients without heart failure