Chest
Original Research: COPDDifferences in COPD Exacerbation Risk Between Women and Men: Analysis From the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink Data
Section snippets
Data Sources
The current study used the electronic medical records data from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and linked Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data.
Patient Selection and Study Design
The overall study period was between January 1, 2006, and February 28, 2016; patients with an incident diagnosis of COPD between January 1, 2010, and February 28, 2015, were analyzed. A minimum of a 4-year washout period was applied to exclude prevalent patients. Patients with incident COPD, aged ≥ 40 years, were included. Patients
Demographic and Patient Characteristics
A total cohort of 49,169 patients with COPD were identified between January 1, 2010, and February 28, 2015, of whom 22,429 were identified as incident patients and included in the study (Fig 1). Overall, 48% of patients were women. At diagnosis, more women were either current smokers or had never smoked compared with men (Table 1). The proportion of patients using rescue medication at baseline was similar between both sexes. At baseline, there was no difference in GOLD combined assessment
Discussion
This retrospective study examined a large cohort of patients with incident COPD to identify and assess the differences in exacerbation risk and characteristics between women and men. We observed that despite the evidence of milder disease (as measured by lung function) at the time of COPD diagnosis, women were at a greater risk of moderate or severe exacerbation, with shorter time to first exacerbation and increased frequency of these events, compared with men. We found that the difference was
Conclusions
The current study found that women are at a higher risk of COPD exacerbations compared with men. The differences in COPD expression according to sex were more evident in the younger age group (≥ 40 years to < 65 years); in patients with preexisting asthma; in GOLD groups B, C, and D; and in individuals with moderate and severe airflow limitation. This trend was consistent across the first, second, and third years of follow-up. These results highlight the unmet need for appropriate
Acknowledgments
Author contributions: All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting and revising the paper, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Financial/nonfinancial disclosures: The authors have reported to CHEST the following: E. L., R. F., A. C., F. S. G., and H. C. are employees of Novartis. K. K. and V. C. were employees of Novartis at the time of the conduct of the study. None declared (D. S.).
Role of sponsors: The funding source Novartis is involved in the collection,
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Drs Clemens and Cao contributed equally as senior authors to the manuscript.
FUNDING/SUPPORT: The study was funded by Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland.