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Tuesday, 04/03/2012
Zinka Matkovic publishes her work entitled “Predictors of Adverse Outcome in Patients Hospitalised for Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease” in The Journal Respiration
This manuscript is the result of a one year fellowship in the group Applied Research in Respiratory Diseases
Patients with previous exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypercapnia and hypoxaemia had the highest risk of an unfavourable evolution. This is the main conclusion of the manuscript recently published in Respiration and signed by: Matkovic Z, Huerta A, Soler N, Domingo R, Gabarrús A, Torres A, Miravitlles M. To draw this conclusion authors prospectively evaluated demographic and clinical parameters, including different multidimensional prognostic scores in patients admitted for exacerbation of COPD.
Of 155 patients included, an adverse outcome occurred in 69 (45%). Patients with an adverse outcome had lower forced expiratory volume in 1 s and more frequent exacerbations, more frequently used oxygen at home, and presented with lower pH, lower ratio of arterial oxygen pressure to the fraction of inspired oxygen, higher arterial carbon dioxide pressure and a worse score on several prognostic indices at admission. Independent predictors of adverse outcome were exacerbation of COPD in the previous year, hypercapnia and hypoxaemia. In the presence of all three characteristics, the probability of an adverse outcome was 95%, while hypercapnia was the strongest prognostic factor with a risk of 54%.
This manuscript is the result of a one year fellowship in the group Applied Research in Respiratory Diseases. Identifying risk factors for poor evolution of patients admitted to hospital with COPD allows to provide adequate intensive therapy and closer follow-up.
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