Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- 1Department of Respiratory Medicine, Mater Hospital Trust, Belfast, UK
- 2Regional Virology Laboratory, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, UK
- Correspondence to:
Dr J Kidney, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Mater Hospital, Crumlin Road, Belfast BT14 6AB, UK;
joekidney{at}utvinternet.com
Respiratory diseases are the most common cause of death in the UK but, while targets are set for every other major disease category, lung diseases do not get a mention.
Respiratory diseases are the most common cause of death with a 16% higher mortality rate than with coronary heart disease. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the most common chronic respiratory illness. At the end of its long course over 30 000 people die from COPD each year in the UK. It is a disease of the poor, with a death rate in men of working age 14 times higher in unskilled manual workers than in professionals.1
The burden to the health service is enormous. In the UK acute respiratory admissions account for 25% of all emergency medical admissions2 and cost £1.1 billion.3 COPD exacerbations account for more than half of these admissions,2 so are likely to cost in excess of £500 million per annum. In planning for service delivery, COPD admissions throw a spanner in the works. During the summer there is a steady number of admissions but in winter this rises by up to threefold (unpublished data, Mater Hospital). This is the time of year when images of patients waiting on trolleys in A&E departments fill our television screens. The domino effect of admissions with COPD goes beyond A&E departments; beds in medical …
