[Acute COPD exacerbations in women: EABPCO-CPHG study by the College of general hospital pneumologists]

Emerging evidence suggests that gender differences exist in the prevalence, susceptibility, severity and response to the treatment of COPD. This article compares the characteristics of acute exacerbation in male and female patients hospitalized for acute chronic obstructive pulomnary disease (COPD) exacerbation.

This observational study collected data from 1,824 patients admitted to the pneumology department in 68 general hospitals between October 2006 and June 2007.

The 423 (23.2%) women were younger than the men (69.1 versus 70.6 years; p=0.016) and more frequently non-smokers (14.4% versus 4.2%; p<0.0001). Before the acute exacerbation, they more frequently reported asthma (18% versus 11.6%; p=0.0006) or bronchiectasis (10.4% versus 5.9%; p=0.002). They also more often presented consciousness disorders (6.4% versus 3.9%; p=0.033) and desaturation (SpO2<90%: 50.4% versus 42%; p=0.002) during acute exacerbation and their hypercapnia was more severe (50.7 versus 46.5mmHg; p<0.0001). During hospitalization, they were more frequently ventilated (23.9 versus 17.1%; p=0.002). There was no difference in the mortality between the sexes (1.4% versus 2.8%; p=0.11). Age and smoking behavior were closely related in the female patients: the smokers were younger (62.5 years) than the ex-smokers (73.7 years) or non-smokers (78.1 years). Of the six women who died during hospitalization, two were smokers and four ex-smokers. In addition, four were over 80 years old.

The women hospitalized for acute COPD exacerbation differed from the men with respect to risk factors, steady-state COPD severity and exacerbation severity.