Characteristics of COPD patients according to GOLD classification and clinical phenotypes in the Russian Federation: the SUPPORT trial

BACKGROUND: The high prevalence of COPD in the Russian Federation has been demonstrated in several epidemiological studies. However, there are still no data on the clinical characteristics of these patients according to Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) groups and phenotypes, which could provide additional understanding of the burden of COPD, routine clinical practice, and ways to improve the treatment of patients with COPD in Russia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: SUPPORT was an observational multicenter study designed to obtain data about the distribution of patients with previously diagnosed COPD according to the severity of bronchial obstruction, symptom severity, risk of exacerbation, COPD phenotypes, and treatment of COPD. We included patients with a previous diagnosis of COPD who visited one of 33 primary-care centers for any reason in 23 cities in Russia. RESULTS: Among the 1,505 patients with a previous diagnosis of COPD who attended the primary-care centers and were screened for the study, 1,111 had a spirometry-confirmed diagnosis and were included in the analysis. Up to 53% of the patients had severe or very severe COPD (GOLD stages III–IV), and 74.3% belonged to the GOLD D group. The majority of patients were frequent exacerbators (exacerbators with chronic bronchitis [37.3%], exacerbators without chronic bronchitis [14%]), while 35.8% were nonexacerbators and 12.9% had asthma–COPD overlap. Among the GOLD D group patients, >20% were treated with only short-acting bronchodilators. CONCLUSION: COPD is still misdiagnosed in primary care in Russia. COPD patients in primary care are usually GOLD D with frequent exacerbations and are often treated with only short-acting bronchodilators.