Characteristics of patients included in the study in relation to re-admission
| All | No rehospitalisation | Rehospitalisation | p-value | |
| Subjects n | 406 | 160 | 246 | |
| Age yrs | 69.2±10.5 | 68.3±12.1 | 69.8±9.4 | 0.16 |
| Female | 51.2 | 54.4 | 49.2 | 0.31 |
| Hospital stay days | 8 (6–13) | 7 (5–12) | 9 (6–14) | 0.02 |
| Smokers | 36.0 | 30.6 | 23.0 | 0.09 |
| Pack-yrs | 35.2±23.3 | 33.9±21.2 | 36.1±24.6 | 0.37 |
| College education | 30.7 | 30.8 | 30.6 | 0.96 |
| Living alone | 52.1 | 48.7 | 54.4 | 0.28 |
| COPD hospitalisations in last 12 months | 1 (0–3) | 0.5 (0–1) | 1 (1–3) | <0.0001 |
| HAD-Total | 12.5±6.8 | 12.1±6.3 | 12.7±7.1 | 0.38 |
| HAD-Anxiety | 7.0±4.2 | 6.7±4.0 | 7.1±4.3 | 0.28 |
| HAD-Depression | 5.5±3.6 | 5.4±3.4 | 5.6±3.8 | 0.63 |
| Anxiety | 41.0 | 39.5 | 42.1 | 0.61 |
| Depression | 28.7 | 26.5 | 30.2 | 0.44 |
| Health status SGRQ total score | 58±17 | 52±17 | 62±16 | <0.0001 |
| FEV1 % pred | 38.4±18.2 | 44.8±19.4 | 34.1±15.9 | <0.0001 |
| FVC % of pred | 61.8±19.2 | 66.2±19.2 | 58.8±20.7 | 0.0005 |
| Long-term oxygen | 23.6 | 16.2 | 28.4 | 0.005 |
| Cardiovascular diseases | 44.6 | 45.6 | 43.9 | 0.76 |
| Diabetes | 10.3 | 7.5 | 12.2 | 0.13 |
| Anticholinergics | 35.8 | 43.6 | 30.7 | 0.009 |
| Short acting β2-agonists | 35.9 | 33.8 | 37.3 | 0.53 |
| Long acting β2-agonists | 61.4 | 60.5 | 61.9 | 0.78 |
| Inhaled corticosteroids | 69.9 | 69.9 | 70.0 | 0.98 |
| Nebulised treatment | 33.2 | 19.9 | 41.8 | <0.0001 |
| Oral theophylline | 27.7 | 19.7 | 32.9 | 0.004 |
| Oral corticosteroids | 65.7 | 62.4 | 67.9 | 0.26 |
Data presented as n, mean±sd, median (interquartile range) or %. COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; HAD: hospital anxiety and depression scale; SGRQ: St George's Respiratory Questionnaire; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in one second; FVC: forced vital capacity. Chi-squared test and unpaired t-tests was used to calculate the p-values.