Gender differences in mortality in patients with COPD

¹ Clínica Universitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; and Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, Tenerife, Spain
² Bay Pines VA Health Care System, USA
³ Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
⁴ Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, Tenerife, Spain
⁵ Departamento de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
⁶ Hospital Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain
⁷ Caritas St Elizabeth's Medical Center, Boston. Tutfs University. USA
⁸ Hospital Universitario de Caracas, Venezuela

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jupa65{at}hotmail.com.

	Abstract

Little is known about survival and clinical prognostic factors in women with COPD.

Determine the survival difference between men and women with COPD and compare the value of the different prognostic factors for the disease.

265 women and 272 men with COPD matched at baseline by BODE and ATS/ERS/GOLD criteria were prospectively followed. Demographics, lung function, SGRQ, BODE index, its components and co-morbidity were determined. Survival was documented and gender differences were determined using Kaplan-Meier analysis. The strength of the association of the studied variables with mortality was determined using multivariate and receiver operating curves (ROC) analysis.

All-cause (40% vs. 18%, p<0.001) and respiratory mortality (24% vs. 10%, p<0.001) were higher in men than women. Multivariate analysis identified the BODE index in women and the BODE index and Charlson co-morbidity score in men as the best predictors of mortality. The area under the curve (AUC) of the BODE index was a better predictor of mortality than the FEV₁% for both genders.

At similar COPD severity by BODE index and FEV₁%, women have significantly better survival than men. For both genders the BODE index is a better predictor of survival than the FEV₁.

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