Abstract
This study aimed to generate real-world evidence to assess the burden of comorbidities in COPD patients, to effectively manage these patients and optimize the associated healthcare resource allocation. ARCTIC is a large, real-world, retrospective cohort study conducted in Swedish COPD patients using electronic medical record data collected between 2000 and 2014. These patients were studied for prevalence of various comorbidities and for association of these comorbidities with exacerbations, mortality, and healthcare costs compared with an age-, sex-, and comorbidities-matched non-COPD reference population. A total of 17,479 patients with COPD were compared with 84,514 non-COPD reference population. A significantly higher prevalence of various comorbidities was observed in COPD patients 2 years post-diagnosis vs. reference population, with the highest percentage increase observed for cardiovascular diseases (81.8% vs. 30.7%). Among the selected comorbidities, lung cancer was relatively more prevalent in COPD patients vs. reference population (relative risk, RR = 5.97, p < 0.0001). Ischemic heart disease, hypertension, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and asthma caused increased mortality rates in COPD patients. Comorbidities that were observed to be significantly associated with increased number of severe exacerbations in COPD patients included heart failure, ischemic heart disease, depression/anxiety, sleep disorders, osteoporosis, lung cancer, and stroke. The cumulative healthcare costs associated with comorbidities over 2 years after the index date were observed to be significantly higher in COPD patients (€27,692) vs. reference population (€5141) (p < 0.0001). The data support the need for patient-centered treatment strategies and targeted healthcare resource allocation to reduce the humanistic and economic burden associated with COPD comorbidities.
Highlights
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common disease and it was estimated to affect 384 million persons in the year 2010, corresponding to a global prevalence of 11.7% (8.4%–15.0%).[1]
Prevalence rates of lung cancer, heart failure, ischemic heart disease, hypertension, depression/anxiety, sleep disorders, osteoporosis, stroke, osteoarthritis, and pulmonary embolism, were significantly higher in the COPD population compared with the non-COPD population
After 2 years post-diagnosis, the highest percentage increase was observed in the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, which was 81.8% in COPD patients compared to 30.7% in the non-COPD population; this observation was in alignment with findings from other studies.[12,14,15,20]
Summary
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common disease and it was estimated to affect 384 million persons in the year 2010, corresponding to a global prevalence of 11.7% (8.4%–15.0%).[1] According to the 2010 Global Burden of Disease study, COPD has been estimated to be the third leading cause of mortality worldwide.[2]. COPD is one of the leading causes of morbidity worldwide, and the morbidity is further affected by presence of concomitant chronic conditions.[3] These chronic comorbidities play a potential role in the prognosis of COPD and health outcomes of patients. Evidence suggests that comorbidities increase the risk for exacerbations and hospitalizations, reduce health status, and increase the risk of mortality in COPD patients.[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11] Various comorbidities studied in patients with COPD include asthma; lung cancer; cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure, ischemic heart disease, arrhythmias, peripheral vascular disease, and hypertension; osteoporosis; depression; anxiety; metabolic syndrome and diabetes; gastroesophageal reflux; bronchiectasis; and obstructive sleep apnea.[3,5,8,12,13,14,15,16]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
