Epidemiological Characteristics of 101,471 Patients Hospitalized with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Poland in 2019: Multimorbidity, Duration of Hospitalization, In-Hospital Mortality

HIGHLIGHTS: What are the main findings? The presence of comorbidities was reported in 89.3% of patients hospitalized with COPD, the average duration of hospitalization was 9.4 days (54.5% of patients hospitalized with COPD were hospitalized for up to 7 days), and the in-hospital mortality rate was 6.8%. Older age, presence of cardiovascular diseases, genitourinary disorders, or digestive disorders were significantly associated with a higher risk of in-hospital death. What is the implication of the main finding? Findings from this nationwide registry-based survey may be used by clinicians during the development of guidelines on COPD management. Efforts should be made to develop models for assessing and predicting the impact of air pollution and meteorological factors on hospital admissions of patients diagnosed with COPD. ABSTRACT: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common lung disease. There is a limited amount of nationwide data on COPD patients in Poland. This study aimed to characterize patients hospitalized with COPD in Poland in 2019 as well as to identify factors associated with the risk of in-hospital death and prolonged hospitalization among patients with COPD. This study is a retrospective database analysis. Data on patients hospitalized with COPD in Poland were obtained from the Nationwide General Hospital Morbidity Dataset. Data on all adults aged ≥40 years with a diagnosis of COPD from a physician (J44 code) were included in the analysis. Data were analyzed separately for patients hospitalized due to COPD (primary diagnosis) and patients with COPD as a comorbidity (secondary diagnosis). Completed medical records were available for 101,471 patients hospitalized with COPD (36.9% were females). Of those, 32% were hospitalized due to COPD. The mean age was 71.4 ± 9.7 years. The mean duration of hospitalization was 9.4 ± 11.4 days (median 7 days). Most of the COPD patients (89.3%) had at least one comorbidity. The in-hospital mortality rate was 6.8%. Older age, presence of cardiovascular diseases, and diseases of the genitourinary system (p < 0.05) were the most important factors associated with the risk of in-hospital death among patients hospitalized due to COPD.