TY - JOUR T1 - Chronic bronchitis: an objective diagnosis of exclusion JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 1305 LP - 1306 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00129812 VL - 40 IS - 5 AU - María Montes de Oca AU - Maria Victorina Lopez Y1 - 2012/11/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/5/1305.2.abstract N2 - From the authors:We would like to thank A.G. Mathioudakis and co-workers for their interest and comments regarding our recently published article in the July issue of the European Respiratory Journal [1].A.G. Mathioudakis and co-workers raise a concern regarding the term of “chronic bronchitis phenotype” and the actual diagnosis. They also comment that the phenotype could include patients with tuberculosis, lung cancer, asthma, bronchiectasis and heart failure, and that these diagnoses were not sufficiently investigated in our study. We agree with the position that the phenotype includes patients with other conditions and, in this way, the term was addressed in our study [1]. The self-reported comorbidity (asthma, tuberculosis and lung cancer) of the subjects with spirometric diagnosis of … ER -