International Journal of COPD (Nov 2022)

Association Between Blood Urea Nitrogen Levels and Length of Stay in Patients with Pneumonic Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Exacerbation: A Secondary Analysis Based on a Multicentre, Retrospective Cohort Study

  • Du J,
  • Niu J,
  • Ma L,
  • Sui Y,
  • Wang S

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 17
pp. 2847 – 2856

Abstract

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Jie Du,1 Jing Niu,1 Lanxiang Ma,2 Yongjie Sui,1 Shuili Wang3 1Department of Health Examination Center, Shaanxi Provincial People Hospital, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Cardiology, Shaanxi Provincial Corps Hospital, Chinese People’s Armed Police Forces, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Respiratory Medicine, Shaanxi Provincial People Hospital, Xi’an, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Lanxiang Ma, Department of Cardiology, Shaanxi Provincial Corps Hospital, Chinese People’s Armed Police Forces, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-15991765901, Email [email protected]: High blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is associated with an elevated risk of mortality in various diseases, such as heart failure and pneumonia. Heart failure and pneumonia are common comorbidities of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation. However, data on the relationship of BUN levels with length of stay (LOS) in patients with pneumonic COPD exacerbation are sparse. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between BUN levels and LOS in a cohort of patients with pneumonic COPD exacerbation.Patients and Methods: The present study was a multicentre, retrospective cohort study. A total of 1226 patients with pneumonic COPD exacerbation were included through a validated algorithm derived from the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). It should be noted that the entire study was completed by Shiroshita et al, who uploaded the data to the DATADRYAD website. The author only used these data for secondary analysis.Results: After adjusting for potential confounders (age, gender), a nonlinear relationship was detected between BUN levels less than 40 mg/dl and LOS. The effect sizes and the confidence intervals on the left and right sides of the inflection point were 0.27 (0.16, 0.39) and − 0.17 (− 0.34, 0.01), respectively.Conclusion: High levels of BUN in the hospital may be associated with increased LOS. BUN was positively related to LOS when BUN was less than 40 mg/dl.Keywords: pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, exacerbation, blood urea nitrogen, length of stay

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