PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Christopher Michael Roberts AU - Sylvia Hartl AU - Francisco Pozo-Rodriguez AU - Jose Luis Lopez-Campos TI - Differences between men and women COPD admissions: Evidence from the European COPD audit DP - 2012 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - 4299 VI - 40 IP - Suppl 56 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/4299.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/4299.full SO - Eur Respir J2012 Sep 01; 40 AB - Introduction: Studies using administrative data from N America provide conflicting results for gender survival differences in COPD (Machado 2006, Gonzalez 2011). We used clinician collected data to look at Hospital and 90 day survival following admission with COPD exacerbation.Method: The European audit programme collected retrospective data from clinical case notes and telephone enquiry from 15,821 patients admitted between October 2010 and February 2011 in 13 European countries. Data was entered onto a web collection tool and analysed centrally.Results: Women admissions were in a minority (39.1% P<0.001) but proportion of all admissions varied from 53% in the UK to only 14% in Spain. Women were more likely to be non-smokers than men (9.6 vs 3.4%), had lower pack year histories if smokers (23.5 vs 31.1) but were more likely to be current smokers (37.5 vs 28.3% P<0.001). They were less likely to have increased sputum (60.9 vs 66.6%) or coloured sputum at admission (53.5 vs 56.3% P<0.001) and less likely to receive steroids or antibiotics (P<0.001). Women had fewer co-morbidities (1.3 vs 1.7 P<0.001) but were more likely to die in hospital (5.5 vs 4.7% P=0.018) an effect carried over to 90 days (5.6 vs 6.4% P=0.008) but had shorter length of stay and were less likely to be readmitted if discharged successfully (32 vs 34% P=0.004).Conclusions: These data suggest women exhibit different COPD characteristics and have a higher mortality when admitted to hospital.Machado Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2006;174:524. Gonzalez Thorax 2011;66:38.