Abstract
Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) represents a major health problem in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. However, data regarding symptom load and clinical phenotypes of patients with COPD in CEE remain largely unknown.
Methods: Participation in the POPE Study (a multicentre, observational cross-sectional survey) was offered to consecutive outpatients with stable COPD in 11 CEE countries if they fulfilled the following criteria: age ≥ 40 years, smoking history ≥ 10 pack-years, post-bronchodilator (BD) FEV1/FVC < 0.7 and absence of COPD exacerbation ≥ 4 weeks.
Results: 3504 patients (66 ± 8.7 yrs, 69% male, post-BD FEV1 53.0 ± 17.5% predicted, Charlson comorbidity index 2.0 ± 1.4, and 1.2 ± 1.6 exacerbations within the last 12 months) were recruited between Apr 2014 and May 2015. The majority of patients were classified as GOLD D or GOLD B (57% and 30.6% of total, respectively). According to predefined phenotypes, 63% of the population were non-exacerbators, 20.5% frequent exacerbators with chronic bronchitis (CB), 9.5% frequent exacerbators without CB, and 7% were patients with asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS). There were statistically significant differences in symptom load and lung function between these phenotypes.
NON-exacerbators | ACOS | Frequent exacerbators without CB | Frequent exacerbators with CB | p² | |
CAT total¹ | 15.8 (7.3)¨ | 17.8 (7.8)¯ | 18.2 (7.4)¯ | 22.2 (7.5)° | <0.001 |
Post-bronchodilator FEV1¹ | 55.8 (17.3)¯ | 55.0 (17.6)¯ | 45.5 (15.9)¨ | 47.0 (16.1)¨ | <0.001 |
¹Mean and standard deviation. ²One way ANOVA.¯,¨,° indicate homogenous groups (Tukey post hoc test).
Conclusion: First results of the POPE study offer insight into symptom load, lung function, and phenotypes of COPD in CEE countries.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015