Background The findings of the Understanding Potential Long-term Impacts on Function with Tiotropium (UPLIFT) study may be poorly generalisable to tiotropium use in clinical practice.

Methods An audit of 226 patients admitted to Wellington Hospital with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation determined the proportion of patients prescribed tiotropium on discharge that would have been ineligible for inclusion in the UPLIFT study.

Results Among 100 patients prescribed tiotropium, 38/100; 38% (95% CI 28.5% to 48.3%) would have been ineligible for UPLIFT at the time of the hospital discharge due to recent cardiovascular comorbidity or moderate to severe renal impairment.

Conclusions The UPLIFT findings have limited generalisability to over a third of patients prescribed tiotropium following a hospital admission with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation in New Zealand.