Rising total costs and mortality rates associated with admissions due to COPD exacerbations

BACKGROUND: To examine trends in mortality, costs and in-hospital management and outcomes of severe COPD exacerbations admitted in France. METHODS: Patients hospitalized from 2007 to 2012 with COPD exacerbation as the primary diagnosis were identified from the exhaustive French medico-administrative hospitalizations database records. Four groups of severe COPD exacerbations were defined: hospitalisation in a general ward (GW) without acute respiratory failure (ARF), GW with ARF, ICU without invasive mechanical ventilation (MV), and ICU with MV. RESULTS: A 15.48 % increase in admissions from 113 276 in 2007 to 133 497 in 2012 was recorded. Age (+9.9 months), gender (−2.5 % of male) and length of stay (−0.29 day) slightly changed while the number of ICU admissions increased markedly (+41.78 %). In-hospital mortality rates increased (+8.06 %, p < .001) and followed seasonal variations peaking in winter. Total hospitalizations costs increased from 602 to 678 millions euros (+12.6 %). Pneumonia-related mortality increased (+37.2 %). A progressive replacement of chest X-ray by CT scan was observed (−41.3 % vs +31.7 %) while fewer spirometries (−13.7 %) and bronchoscopies (−22.6 %) were performed. CONCLUSION: The incidence of severe COPD exacerbations and the proportion of ICU-managed patients are still increasing in France. Rising total costs and mortality rates especially related to pneumonia advocate for rethinking COPD management plans. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12931-016-0469-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.