Chest
Original ResearchCOPDCharacteristics of Undertreatment in COPD in the General Population
Section snippets
Study Populations
We used data from The Copenhagen General Population Study (CGPS).14 This ongoing study recruits individuals from the suburbs of Copenhagen, and in the current analyses we used data on 59,373 participants enrolled from 2003 through December 31, 2009. The CGPS is a prospective epidemiologic study that plans to recruit at least 100,000 individuals from the general population. This study was approved by an institutional review board and the Danish ethics committee (H-KF01-144/01) and was conducted
Demographics
Among the 920 individuals with COPD and FEV1 < 60% predicted in the CGPS examined before December 31, 2009, we identified 276 (30.0%) who received treatment with any medications in the year before their baseline examination date. Short-acting bronchodilators were received by 152 individuals (16.5%), 197 (21.4%) received long-acting bronchodilators, and 178 (19.3%) received ICSs. Table 1 shows baseline general and clinical characteristics in two groups: no treatment vs treatment with any
Discussion
In our study, we observed major undertreatment of individuals with COPD from the general population. Only 30% of individuals with medically treatable COPD were treated with any type of medication during the year before the baseline examination: 16.5% received a short-acting bronchodilator, 21.4% received a long-acting bronchodilator, and 19.3% received an ICS. Furthermore, only 42.2% were treated with any medication in the first year after having been informed about the spirometry results at
Conclusions
In conclusion, our study identified important characteristics of major undertreatment of medically treatable COPD in the general population. We identified the number of previous self-reported respiratory infections as the most important predictor of treatment in the general population. This observation indicates that most COPD treatment may be initiated because of acute exacerbations and emphasizes a need to earlier recognize and treat symptomatic patients with FEV1 < 60% predicted, thereby
Acknowledgments
Author contributions: Dr Ingebrigtsen had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity and the accuracy of the data analysis and for the submission.
Dr Ingebrigtsen: contributed to the writing of the protocol, statistical analysis, analysis and interpretation of the data, and writing of the manuscript.
Mr Marott: contributed to the statistical analysis, analysis and interpretation of the data, and revision of the manuscript.
Dr Vestbo: contributed to
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Funding/Support: These analyses were sponsored by an unrestricted grant from GlaxoSmithKline [Grant EPI 115882-EUPharmaLocal], the Capital Region of Copenhagen, the Danish Heart Foundation, the Danish Lung Foundation, the Velux Foundation, and Herlev University Hospital.
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