COPD-Related Mortality, Hospital Length of Stay Lower in Women

The mortality rate and hospital length-of-stay associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations is lower in women than in men, according to a recent study.

Findings from the study were presented at the CHEST 2017 Annual Meeting, which is taking place from October 28 to November 1, 2017, in Toronto, Canada.
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For their study, the researchers evaluated 631,664 patients with a primary diagnosis of COPD, as defined by ICD-9 CM codes. Patients’ mean age was 68 years, and 56% of patients were women. Patient data were obtained from the 2013 National Inpatient Sample (NIS).

The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality, and the secondary outcomes included morbidity based on admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), shock, and acute respiratory failure; and resource utilization based on mean length of hospital stay, total hospitalization charges, and utilization of bronchoscopy and thoracentesis.

Odds ratios (OR) and means were adjusted via multivariate regression analysis models for age, race, Charlson Comorbidity Index, primary insurance, hospital location, and hospital teaching status.

Results indicated that, compared with men, women with COPD had a reduced adjusted mortality rate (OR 0.88), lower mean hospital length of stay (4.38 days vs 4.16 days), rate of thoracentesis (0.74), and incidence of any type of shock (OR 0.78) over the course of the study period.

However, the researchers observed no differences in mean utilization of bronchoscopy (OR 0.90), admission to the ICU (OR 0.93), or acute respiratory failure (OR 1.00) between men and women with COPD.

“Female patients admitted for COPD exacerbation had a lower mortality rate and lower length of hospital stay when compared to males,” the researchers concluded. “Total hospitalization charges, utilization of bronchoscopy, incidence of acute respiratory failure, and need for ICU admission did not significantly differ between the sexes.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Gholitabar N, Dooley C, Ahsan S, Gholitabar F, Mathew J. Gender differences in the outcomes of patients hospitalized for COPD: a nationwide analysis. CHEST J. 2017;152(4):A815.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2017.08.846.