E of 62 [58?8] yrs., mild to moderate airflow limitation, absent or mild emphysema, absent or mild dyspnoea, normal nutritional status and limited comorbidities. Two third of these subjects were recruited in the NELSON study whereas one third of these subjects were recruited in the LEUVEN clinic. Of note, 95 of the NELSON subjects clustered in this phenotype. Only 1/219 (0.5 ) subject died in this phenotype. Phenotype 2 (n = 99 subjects) corresponded to subjects with a median [IQR] age of 61 [57?6] yrs., PS 1145 site Severe airflow limitation,COPD Phenotypes at High Risk of MortalityTable 1. Description of the 527 COPD patients based on spirometric GOLD classification.GOLD I n = 120 Demographic Age, yrs. Male sex, BMI, kg/m2 Smoking, pack-year Source of recruitment NELSON study, ( NELSON) LEUVEN clinic, ( LEUVEN) Pulmonary function tests FEV1, get RE640 predicted FEV1, L FVC, predicted FVC, L FEV1/FVC ratio RV, predicted TLC, predicted TGV, predicted Raw, predicted Sgaw, predicted DLCO, predicted Kco, predicted Symptoms Dyspnoea, mMRC scale Clinical COPD Questionnaire, Total score Comorbidities Ischemic heart disease, Stroke, Peripheral artery disease, * Diabetes, Muscle weakness, * Osteoporosis, Anaemia, CT scan Emphysema present, Alveolar 
destruction Absent, Mild, Moderate, Severe, Bronchial thickening Mild, Moderate, Severe, Bronchiectasis, Mortality Deaths, n ( ) 1 (0.8) 64 30 6 12 61 31 7 1 39 14 2.5 14* 8 5* 5 6 0 [0?] 1.8 [0.8?.5] 93 [87?03] 2.9 [2.5?.2] 115 1662274 [106?26] 4.5 [3.8?.0] 0.66 [0.63?.68] 115 [101?33] 109 [102?17] 117 [107?33] 152 [126?87] 82 [67?9] 80 [66?1] 86 [73?8] 83 (65) 17 (5) 62 [58?7] 80 25 [24?8] 43 [32?5]GOLD II n =GOLD III n =GOLD IV n =68 [61?4] 79 26 [23?8] 47 [34?1]68 [62?5] 78 24 [20?7] 50 [32?4]61 [58?5] 72 22 [19?5] 46 [33?0]28 (31) 72 (33)5 (4) 95 (38)0 (0) 100 (24)64 [57?1] 1.8 [1.5?.1] 94 [85?05] 3.3 [2.8?.1] 0.55 [0.48?.60] 132 [109?55] 104 [93?14] 130 [110?51] 189 [164?40] 61 [48?5] 58 [49?4] 79 [63?2]40 [36?4] 1.1 [0.9?.3] 79 [70?9] 2.8 [2.4?.3] 0.39 [0.35?.44] 171.0 [143?99] 112 [101?21] 161 [137?77] 257 [224?18] 36 [31?6] 45 [34?7] 64 [52?7]24 [20?8] 0.7 [0.6?.8] 64 [54?4] 2.2 [1.7?.9] 0.31 [0.25?.35] 227 [181?71] 124 [110?36] 193 [169?17] 355 [274?27] 25 [21?1] 33 [27?8] 56 [45?3]1 [0?] 3.5 [1.8?.3]2 [1?] 5.5 [3.5?.8]3 [1?] 6.8 [5.3?.0]27 3 21* 17 29* 1523 4 12 14 40 1726 6 11 13 58 3931 38 2218 26 298 13 3037 45 1824 49 2732 48 205 (3.0)21 (14.1)23 (25.8)BMI : body mass index; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 sec, FVC: forced vital capacity, RV: residual volume, TLC: total lung capacity, TGV: thoracic gas volume, Raw: airway resistance, Sgaw: specific airway conductance, DLCO: diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, KCO: ratio of DLCO to alveolar volume, mMRC: modified Medical Research Council Scale. *, missing data: GOLD I 83 , GOLD II 28 . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051048.tCOPD Phenotypes at High Risk of MortalityFigure 2. Dendrogram illustrating the results of the cluster analysis in 527 COPD subjects. Subjects were classified using agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis based on the main axes identified by principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple correspondence analyses (MCA, see Methods section). Each vertical line represents an individual subject and the length of vertical lines represents the degree of similarity between subjects. The horizontal lines identify possible cut-off for choosing the optimal number of clusters in the.E of 62 [58?8] yrs., mild to moderate airflow limitation, absent or mild emphysema, absent or mild dyspnoea, normal nutritional status and limited comorbidities. Two third of these subjects were recruited in the NELSON study whereas one third of these subjects were recruited in the LEUVEN clinic. Of note, 95 of the NELSON subjects clustered in this phenotype. Only 1/219 (0.5 ) subject died in this phenotype. Phenotype 2 (n = 99 subjects) corresponded to subjects with a median [IQR] age of 61 [57?6] yrs., severe airflow limitation,COPD Phenotypes at High Risk of MortalityTable 1. Description of the 527 COPD patients based on spirometric GOLD classification.GOLD I n = 120 Demographic Age, yrs. Male sex, BMI, kg/m2 Smoking, pack-year Source of recruitment NELSON study, ( NELSON) LEUVEN clinic, ( LEUVEN) Pulmonary function tests FEV1, predicted FEV1, L FVC, predicted FVC, L FEV1/FVC ratio RV, predicted TLC, predicted TGV, predicted Raw, predicted Sgaw, predicted DLCO, predicted Kco, predicted Symptoms Dyspnoea, mMRC scale Clinical COPD Questionnaire, Total score Comorbidities Ischemic heart disease, Stroke, Peripheral artery disease, * Diabetes, Muscle weakness, * Osteoporosis, Anaemia, CT scan Emphysema present, Alveolar destruction Absent, Mild, Moderate, Severe, Bronchial thickening Mild, Moderate, Severe, Bronchiectasis, Mortality Deaths, n ( ) 1 (0.8) 64 30 6 12 61 31 7 1 39 14 2.5 14* 8 5* 5 6 0 [0?] 1.8 [0.8?.5] 93 [87?03] 2.9 [2.5?.2] 115 1662274 [106?26] 4.5 [3.8?.0] 0.66 [0.63?.68] 115 [101?33] 109 [102?17] 117 [107?33] 152 [126?87] 82 [67?9] 80 [66?1] 86 [73?8] 83 (65) 17 (5) 62 [58?7] 80 25 [24?8] 43 [32?5]GOLD II n =GOLD III n =GOLD IV n =68 [61?4] 79 26 [23?8] 47 [34?1]68 [62?5] 78 24 [20?7] 50 [32?4]61 [58?5] 72 22 [19?5] 46 [33?0]28 (31) 72 (33)5 (4) 95 (38)0 
(0) 100 (24)64 [57?1] 1.8 [1.5?.1] 94 [85?05] 3.3 [2.8?.1] 0.55 [0.48?.60] 132 [109?55] 104 [93?14] 130 [110?51] 189 [164?40] 61 [48?5] 58 [49?4] 79 [63?2]40 [36?4] 1.1 [0.9?.3] 79 [70?9] 2.8 [2.4?.3] 0.39 [0.35?.44] 171.0 [143?99] 112 [101?21] 161 [137?77] 257 [224?18] 36 [31?6] 45 [34?7] 64 [52?7]24 [20?8] 0.7 [0.6?.8] 64 [54?4] 2.2 [1.7?.9] 0.31 [0.25?.35] 227 [181?71] 124 [110?36] 193 [169?17] 355 [274?27] 25 [21?1] 33 [27?8] 56 [45?3]1 [0?] 3.5 [1.8?.3]2 [1?] 5.5 [3.5?.8]3 [1?] 6.8 [5.3?.0]27 3 21* 17 29* 1523 4 12 14 40 1726 6 11 13 58 3931 38 2218 26 298 13 3037 45 1824 49 2732 48 205 (3.0)21 (14.1)23 (25.8)BMI : body mass index; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 sec, FVC: forced vital capacity, RV: residual volume, TLC: total lung capacity, TGV: thoracic gas volume, Raw: airway resistance, Sgaw: specific airway conductance, DLCO: diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, KCO: ratio of DLCO to alveolar volume, mMRC: modified Medical Research Council Scale. *, missing data: GOLD I 83 , GOLD II 28 . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051048.tCOPD Phenotypes at High Risk of MortalityFigure 2. Dendrogram illustrating the results of the cluster analysis in 527 COPD subjects. Subjects were classified using agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis based on the main axes identified by principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple correspondence analyses (MCA, see Methods section). Each vertical line represents an individual subject and the length of vertical lines represents the degree of similarity between subjects. The horizontal lines identify possible cut-off for choosing the optimal number of clusters in the.