title: Use of mortality within 30 days of a COPD hospitalisation as a measure of COPD care in UK hospitals.
abstract: Mortality rate has been proposed as a metric of hospital chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care in light of variation seen in national COPD audits. Using Hospital Episode Statistics (hospital 'coding') we examined 30-day mortality after COPD hospitalisation in 150 UK hospitals during 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. Mean and median 30-day mortalities were similar each year but the coefficient of variation was >20% and hospitals could change from a low or high quartile to the median by chance. We could not detect any reasons for hospitals being at the extremes. 30-day mortality after COPD hospitalisation is a complex variable and unlikely to be useful as a primary annual COPD metric.
authors.affiliation: Aintree Health Outcomes Partnership, University of Liverpool, , Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Crone
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Flatt
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Holton
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Pearson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000401:mortality*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: COPD epidemiology