Takeaway
- Women are at a higher risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations with a shorter time-to-first exacerbation compared with men.
- The difference was more evident in the younger age group (≥40 to ≤65 years).
Why this matters
- Findings highlight the unmet need for appropriate identification and management of women with COPD in clinical practice.
Study design
- This retrospective study used data from the UK primary care and compared the time-to-first episode of moderate or severe exacerbation between women and men with an incident diagnosis of COPD (n=22,429; women, 48%).
- Funding: Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland.
Key results
- Compared with men, the risk for first moderate or severe exacerbation was higher in women (aHR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.12-1.23; P<.0001).
- Median time-to-first exacerbation was significantly less at 504 days (95% CI, 485-522) for women vs 637 days (95% CI, 619-661) for men.
- The difference in time-to-first exacerbation was more prominent in the younger subgroup (≥40 to <65 years).
- The risk for first moderate or severe exacerbation was higher in women across the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease groups B, C and D (all P<.001) vs men in the same groups.
- The risk for first exacerbation was 30% greater in the subgroup of women with asthma vs men with asthma (HR, 1.30; 95%CI, 1.15-1.47; P<.0001).
Limitations
- The data source was from primary care and therefore do not provide a view to the specialist care.
References
References
