FREQUENT EXACERBATORS AND MORTALITY

We now know that some COPD patients are prone to frequent exacerbations and that these patients are more likely to be admitted to hospital and pose a considerable health economic burden, especially during the winter months. Patients with a history of frequent exacerbations, especially those with three or more exacerbations per year, have worse health status, reduced daily activity, increased airway inflammation, and a faster decline in lung function. In this month’s Thorax Soler-Cataluña and colleagues for the first time report that severe exacerbations requiring hospital management are independently associated with all-cause mortality, and the mortality risk increases with exacerbation frequency. The study emphasises the poor outcome associated with hospital admission for COPD exacerbation, with the lowest survival being reported in the patients who had readmissions to hospital. These results are important, as one can then expect that any intervention …