Counting, Analyzing and Reporting Exacerbations of COPD in Randomized, Controlled Trials. Shawn D. Aaron, MD Dean Fergusson, PhD Guy Marks, MBBS PhD Samy Suissa, PhD Katherine L. Vandemheen, BScN Steve Doucette, MSc François Maltais, MD Jean Bourbeau, MD Roger Goldstein, MD Meyer Balter, MD Denis O’Donnell, MD Mark FitzGerald, MD For the Canadian Thoracic Society/Canadian Respiratory Clinical Research Consortium. The Ottawa Health Research Institute, University of Ottawa (SDA, KLV, DF, SD); The Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Sydney Australia (GM); Centre de recherche, Hopital Laval, Universite Laval (FM); Department of Medicine, McGill University (JB, SS); Department of Medicine, The University of Toronto (RG, MB); The Department of Medicine, Queen’s University (DO’D); Department of Medicine, The University of British Columbia (MF). Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, exacerbations, statistical methods, systematic review. Word count: 3827 Correspondence and request for reprints: Dr. Shawn Aaron The Ottawa Hospital, General Campus 501 Smyth Road Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1H 8L6 Telephone: (613) 739-6636 Fax: (613) 739-6266 Email: saaron@ohri.ca June 29, 2007 Thorax Online First, published on August 16, 2007 as 10.1136/thx.2007.082636 Copyright Article author (or their employer) 2007. Produced by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (& BTS) under licence. on June 2, 2020 by guest. Protected by copyright. http://thorax.bmj.com/ Thorax: first published as 10.1136/thx.2007.082636 on 16 August 2007. Downloaded from