Patient characteristics at cohort entry for the entire cohort defined by the first hospitalisation for a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation, for those patients with subsequent COPD exacerbations and for those who died during follow-up
| Entire cohort | At least one subsequent exacerbation | Deaths | |
| Number | 73 106 | 33 166 | 50 580 |
| Age at cohort entry (years; mean±SD) | 75.4±8.4 | 73.9±7.9 | 76.4±8.1 |
| Men (%) | 54.5 | 56.7 | 59.0 |
| Cohort entry after year 2000 (%) | 42.5 | 32.0 | 28.2 |
| Respiratory medications in the year prior to cohort entry* (%) | |||
| Short-acting β agonists | 80.0 | 87.1 | 81.6 |
| Long-acting β agonists | 15.5 | 14.4 | 10.1 |
| Ipratropium bromide | 46.6 | 51.9 | 46.4 |
| Tiotropium | 2.2 | 1.4 | 0.8 |
| Inhaled corticosteroids | 59.4 | 65.9 | 58.0 |
| Oral corticosteroids | 33.5 | 38.7 | 32.2 |
| Theophylline | 29.2 | 37.0 | 36.1 |
| Respiratory antibiotics | 60.3 | 63.0 | 61.4 |
| Modified Chronic Disease Score* (%) | |||
| First quartile | 24.8 | 24.7 | 25.3 |
| Second quartile | 25.1 | 27.0 | 25.5 |
| Third quartile | 25.1 | 25.8 | 25.2 |
| Fourth quartile | 25.0 | 22.5 | 24.0 |
↵* At least one dispensed prescription among the 94% of patients with available medication information in the year prior to cohort entry.