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ED visits, hospital discharges for COPD increase from 2001-2012

Total hospitalizations and ED visits from 2001 to 2012 for COPD have increased despite efforts to reduce COPD incidence, according to study results.

Earl S. Ford, MD, MPH, of the CDC, analyzed data from the National Inpatient Sample and Nationwide Emergency Department Sample to examine temporal trends in the number of hospitalizations from 2001 to 2012 in patients aged older than 18 years with COPD.

Earl S. Ford

The average annual number of discharges was approximately 100,000 higher from 2008 to 2012 than from 2001 to 2007.

Aggregate charges for inpatient stays increased steadily from $8 billion in 2001 to $18.1 billion in 2012, along with the mean charge per inpatient stay ($12,521 vs. $26,647; P < .001).

The number of ED visits also increased from 1.4 million in 2006 to 1.7 million in 2011.

“Despite many local and national efforts to reduce the burden of COPD, total hospitalizations and ED visits over the past decade have increased for COPD,” Ford wrote.

Contributing to this trend, he said, has been a sustained “very high” prevalence of smoking among patients with COPD or obstructive lung function.

“Therefore, increased efforts to promote smoking cessation in these patients may reduce their hospitalizations and visits to the emergency room,” he wrote.

Ford acknowledged there are several limitations to the study. With data being obtained using an online research tool, stratification by other factors such as demographics was not possible. Also, little was known as to the severity of a patient’s condition.

“Severity of the condition that led a patient to access medical care was not available, and therefore, the possible contribution of changes to disease severity to changes in length of stay and case-fatality rate could not be examined,” he wrote.

Disclosure: Ford reports no relevant financial disclosures.