TY - JOUR T1 - Non invasive home ventilation (NIHV) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): Impact on hospital admission rates and length of stay JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P448 AU - Simon Richards AU - Harman Saman AU - Marie Packer AU - Jodie Hunt AU - Syed Huq AU - Shyam Madathil Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P448.abstract N2 - Introduction: There is a lack of sufficient data in the utility of NIHV in patients with COPD and chronic hypercapinic respiratory failure (1). Furthermore, its impact on hospital admission rates and length of stay are unknown.Methods: An observational single centre, retrospective study of all COPD patients commenced on NIHV between January 2002 and July 2013.Results: NIHV was started in 42 patients (47% male, 48% current smokers) who had a least one admission with hypercapnic respiratory failure. The mean (range) age was 65 (55-82) years with a mean (SD) FEV1 of 38 (15) % predicted. In the year preceding commencement of NIHV, 74% of patients were admitted at least once, with a mean (range) number of admissions of 1.44 (0-10) and mean (range) duration of stay of 12.7 (3-24) days. In the year following commencement of NIHV, 48% of patients were admitted at least once. The mean (range) number of admissions was reduced to 1.24 (0-10) (p=0.62) and the mean (range) duration of stay to 8.65 (2-24) days (p<0.001). In our cohort, this equates to a reduction of 420 acute bed-days.Discussion: This study demonstrated a significant reduction in length of stay in our cohort of selected COPD patients following commencement of NIHV. This suggests that NIHV in COPD may have a significant role in reducing the use of precious secondary care resources. Further prospective studies are required to examine the cost effectiveness of NIHV in COPD.Reference:1- McEvoy et al. Thorax 2009, Nocturnal non-invasive nasal ventilation in stable hypercapnic COPD: a randomised controlled trial. ER -