Kuo WK, Liu YC, Chu CM, et al. - Researchers investigated the ability of an amino acids-based metabolic profile developed for heart failure patients (including histidine, ornithine, phenylalanine, and leucine) for detecting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients as well as for further differentiating COPD patients in advanced BODE stages (BODE index represents a multidimensional grading system for prognosis prediction in COPD patients). This study involved 119 participants; 75 COPD patients having different BODE stages and 44 normal controls. A significant differentiation of COPD from normal controls was enabled by a COPD score, developed based on leucine and ornithine. An OR of 15.58 was yielded by a COPD score of ≥ 3.00. Multivariable analysis revealed the ability of histidine and phenylalanine for independently discriminating BODE stages 3 and 4 from BODE 1 and both were chosen to develop a metabolic score. Compared with hand grip strength, high sensitive C-reactive protein, albumin, pre-albumin, and transferrin value, metabolic scores allowed better identification of patients at BODE 3 and 4. A significant differentiation of BODE 3 and 4 from BODE 1 and 2 was enabled by a metabolic score of ≥ 9.53. Overall, the discrimination of COPD patients from normal controls as well as the identification of patients in advanced stages of COPD can be done using amino acid-based COPD score and metabolic score.