Demographic and clinical variables by cohort
| 1996–7 | 2003–4 | p Value | |||
| Age±SD | 72.3±9.2 | 72.0±9.8 | 0.8 | ||
| Men (%) | 124 (92%) | 172 (95%) | 0.5 | ||
| Smoking (%) | 0.02 | ||||
| Current | 23 (17%) | 41 (23%) | |||
| Ex-smoker | 96 (73%) | 132 (75%) | |||
| Never-smoker | 14 (10%) | 3 (2%) | |||
| Married status (%) | 102 (76%) | 120 (75.5%) | 1 | ||
| Residential status (%) | 0.6 | ||||
| Living alone | 14 (10.4%) | 19 (12.0%) | |||
| Living with family | 118 (88.1%) | 135 (84.9%) | |||
| Institutionalised | 2 (1.5%) | 5 (3.1%) | |||
| BMI±SD | 26.3±4.9 | 27.9±5.0 | 0.006 | ||
| Charlson index±SD | 2.2±1.1 | 2.1±1.34 | 0.8 | ||
| Yesavage index±SD | 4.7±3.7 | 5.1±3.6 | 0.3 | ||
| Functional status (Katz) ±SD | 5.4±1.2 | 5.5±1.2 | 0.5 | ||
| COPD in the previous 12 months | |||||
| No. of hospitalisations* | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–2) | 0.2 | ||
| ER visits* | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) | 0.8 | ||
| Days of stay±SD | 13.5±9.6 | 10±5.6 | 0.0001 | ||
| COPD hospitalisations in the next 12 months* | 1 | 0–2 | 1 | 0–2 | 0.9 |
↵* Median (IQR; 25–75%).
BMI, body mass index; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; ER, Emergency room.