Genetic Epidemiology of COPD. Homo sapiens

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and the only leading cause of death that is steadily increasing in frequency. This project will establish a racially diverse cohort that is sufficiently large and appropriately designed for genome-wide association analysis of COPD. A total of 10,000 subjects will be recruited, including control smokers, definite COPD cases (GOLD Stage 2 to 4), and subjects not included in either group (GOLD 1 or GOLD-Unclassified). This cohort will be used for cross-sectional analysis, although long-term longitudinal follow-up will be a future goal. The primary focus of the study will be genome-wide association analysis to identify the genetic risk factors that determine susceptibility for COPD and... (for more see dbGaP study page.)