In a retrospective study of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease inpatients, respiratory comorbidities were significantly associated with prognosis.
OBJECTIVE
Comorbidities may be related to the prognosis for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We examined respiratory comorbidities associated with length of stay and in-hospital mortality among COPD patients.


METHODS
We used the Hospital Person Oriented Information (HPOI) database of Statistics Canada for a 5-year period. Over 4 years (fiscal years 1994-1995 to 1998-1999), 143,135 records listed COPD as the most responsible diagnosis for men and 122,065 records for women aged 40 years or more, and 75,780 men and 69,539 women were admitted to hospital at least once. Logistic regression modeling was used to examine the relationships between respiratory comorbidities and hospital outcomes adjusting for covariates.


RESULTS
Of the COPD patients, 10% had pneumonia-influenza and 3% had asthma as comorbid conditions. Women had a higher prevalence of asthma than men. The median length of stay at hospital was approximately 7 days, and 95% of patients were discharged alive. The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for pneumonia-influenza in relation to in-hospital death was 3.56 (3.31, 3.83) for men and 3.29 (3.00, 3.61) for women. For comorbid asthma the corresponding odds ratios were 0.56 (0.36, 0.61) and 0.54 (0.35, 0.57), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
COPD inpatients with pneumonia-influenza had a worse prognosis and those with asthma had a better prognosis.
Chen
Yue
Y
Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. ychen@uottawa.ca
Stewart
Paula
P
Dales
Robert
R
Johansen
Helen
H
Bryan
Shirley
S
Taylor
Gregory
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality; D011379:Prognosis; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D017678:Sex Distribution