End-product of fibrinogen is elevated in emphysematous chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is predictive of mortality in the ECLIPSE cohort.

•There is an immediate need for accurate and precise biochemical markers to characterize the heterogeneity of COPD.•Plasma fibrinogen is the only FDA approved biomarker that predicts mortality and COPD exacerbations.•Changes in the processing of fibrinogen may provide additional characterization of disease phenotype and COPD progression.•Each of the three fibrinogen biomarkers studied provide information representing distinct aspect of COPD.•X-FIB may serve as a biomarker for predicting disease phenotype by identifying patients with emphysematous COPD.