International Journal of COPD (Jun 2021)

Characterization of COPD Admissions During the First COVID-19 Outbreak

  • Cosio BG,
  • Shafiek H,
  • Toledo-Pons N,
  • Iglesias A,
  • Barcelo M,
  • Represas-Represas C,
  • Comeche L,
  • Catalan P,
  • Fernandez-Villar A,
  • Lopez-Campos JL,
  • Echave-Sustaeta J,
  • Soler-Cataluna JJ

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 1549 – 1554

Abstract

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Borja G Cosio,1,2 Hanaa Shafiek,1,3 Nuria Toledo-Pons,1,2 Amanda Iglesias,1,2 Margalida Barcelo,1 Cristina Represas-Represas,4 Lorena Comeche,5 Pablo Catalan,6 Alberto Fernandez-Villar,4 Jose Luis Lopez- Campos,7 Jose Echave-Sustaeta,5 Juan Jose Soler-Cataluna8 1Respiratory Medicine, Hospital Universitario Son Espases-IdISBa, Palma de Mallorca, Spain; 2CIBERES-IDISBa, Palma de Mallorca, Spain; 3Chest Diseases Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt; 4Respiratory Medicine, Hospital Alvaro Cunqueiro, Vigo, Spain; 5Respiratory Medicine, Hospital Universitario Quironsalud Madrid, Madrid, Spain; 6Respiratory Medicine, Hospital General de Castellón, Castellón, Spain; 7Respiratory Medicine, Hospital Virgen del Rocio-CIBERES, Sevilla, Spain; 8Respiratory medicine, Hospital Arnau de Vilanova-CIBERES, Valencia, SpainCorrespondence: Borja G CosioHospital Universitario Son Espases, Ctra de Valldemossa 79, Palma de Mallorca, 07010, SpainTel +34 871 20 6714Email [email protected]: Exacerbations of COPD (ECOPD) are a frequent cause of hospitalization that seemed to ameliorate during the COVID outbreak. We aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics of COPD-related hospital admissions and mortality in relation to the presence of COVID-19.Patients and Methods: We conducted a case–control study of patients admitted in four teaching hospitals throughout Spain between March 15 and April 30, 2020. Hospital admissions of respiratory cause with and without PCR-proven SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with COPD were evaluated. Baseline and episode-related clinical characteristics were analyzed. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the risk for mortality.Results: During the study period, 2101 patients were admitted for respiratory worsening, 1200 (57.1%) with COVID-19. A total of 228 (10.8%) were admitted due to COPD worsening, of whom 52 (22.8%) tested positive for COVID-19. COPD patients with COVID-19, when compared to those without COVID-19, were more frequently males with better lung function (FEV1 postbronchodilator 71% vs 46% respectively, p< 0.001) and had higher mortality (44.9% vs 13.6% respectively, p< 0.001) despite similar age, comorbidities, total days of hospitalization and admission to intensive care unit. COVID-19 and eosinopenia were the strongest risk factors for mortality in the multivariate analysis in the overall COPD population. Inhaled corticosteroid use was not associated to mortality.Conclusion: Hospitalizations for ECOPD without COVID-19 were more frequent than COPD with COVID-19 during the first outbreak, but the latter were associated with higher mortality and low eosinophil counts that warrant further analysis.Keywords: COPD exacerbation, mortality, inhaled corticosteroids, hospitalization

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