TY - JOUR T1 - Late-breaking abstract: COPD healthcare research: Multicentre study on COPD out-patient healthcare in Germany (ORCAS) JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P4101 AU - Christian Witt AU - Melissa Jehn AU - Uta Liebers AU - Robert Ehrlich AU - Ilka Krohn AU - Schremmer Dieter Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P4101.abstract N2 - Background: In accordance with current guidelines for COPD management, there is a need to investigate daily clinical practice for guiding therapy in COPD.Objectives: The purpose of this nationwide German study is to characterise COPD patients in order to identify predictors that determine the necessity for therapeutic adjustments to be made.Methods: In order to evaluate COPD out-patient healthcare, a total of 1,807 study sites representing 9,383 patients were enrolled in this multicentre cross-sectional study. General practitioners were asked to document clinical patient data by means of a comprehensive medical questionnaire. Data acquisition lasted from January until July 2013.Results: In our study cohort, 27 % of patients were classified as GOLD I, 53 % as GOLD II, 16 % as GOLD III and 3 % as GOLD IV. 80.4 % of patients suffered from exacerbation of COPD during the last 12 months, with a frequency of 2.4 ± 1.9 exacerbations per year. Worsening symptoms were stated by 60 % of COPD patients during the day, of whom 40.2 % experienced them mostly in the morning, and 17 % at night. 68% of patients reported sleep disturbances, triggered particularly by coughing (60.1 %) and breathlessness (37.9 %). Overall, disease progression (51.3 %) and exacerbation of COPD (32.6 %) was the most frequent cause given for changing current medication. The addition of long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMAs) dominated among doctors with prescription increasing from 38.7% to 85.2%.Conclusion: COPD progression, including exacerbation, is highly prevalent in the out-patient setting. Long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMAs) are the most popular choice when prescribing therapy change in COPD. ER -