One in five patients with COPD may aspirate food or drink and this is associated with more severe exacerbations, Australian researchers say.

In their study, conducted at Monash Lung and Sleep at Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne, 151 patients with stable COPD underwent state-of-the-art videofluoroscopy while drinking 100mL of thin oral liquid barium contrast solution.

All participants had a 10 pack-year or greater history of smoking, FEV1 less than 80% of predicted and FEV1/FVC ratio 0.7 or less.

Aspiration, defined as a score of 6-8 on the penetration aspiration scale (PAS), was detected in nearly 20% of the participants, the authors reported in ERJ Open Research.