Does place of treatment affect prognosis for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)?

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Background: It has been shown previously that mortality from acute chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is higher at small hospitals than at large teaching hospitals. Objective: To examine mortality at this acute stage and referral for further treatment by specialities in Finland, and trends in these between the 1990s and 2000s. Methods: Data on all periods of treatment for patients over 44 years of age with a principal or subsidiary diagnosis of COPD beginning and ending in 1995–2004 were extracted from the Finnish hospital discharge register. Particular attention was paid to acute-stage treatment periods managed by a general practitioner, pulmonary specialist, or specialist in internal medicine that had begun as emergency admissions and had a principal diagnosis of COPD, and to any further treatment immediately following these. Results: General practitioners referred 5.1% of their acute-stage patients to a specialist in secondary care in 1995–2004. Of the total of 77 445 acute-stage treatment periods, 3% (2328) ended in the death of the patient, implying the loss of 8.3% of the patients involved. The age- and sex-adjusted risk of death attached to treatment periods managed by a general practitioner relative to those managed by a pulmonary specialist was 0.83 (95% CI 0.75–0.91).Conclusion: It is quite possible to treat acute exacerbations of COPD efficiently and safely in a health centre hospital ward. New treatment modalities and health service structures seem to have led to a decrease in acute exacerbations of COPD since the year 2000, even though the number of patients with this disease has increased as a consequence of ageing of the population. Further research is required on the efficacy of treatment by a general practitioner, e.g., with data on re-hospitalization.