Table 3.

Exacerbations of COPD and Fatal or Non-Fatal CV Events During the Assessment Period

	All Patients
	n	%	Meanb	SD
N	1501	100.0
No CV event + no exacerbation	597	39.8
No CV event + exacerbationa	556	37.0
Moderate exacerbation	441	79.3	1.1	0.8
Severe exacerbation	175	31.5	0.4	0.6
CV event + no exacerbation	70	4.7
Fatal CV event	10	14.3
Heart failure	38	54.3
Stroke	11	15.7
Myocardial infarction	11	15.7
CV event + exacerbationa	197	13.1
Moderate exacerbation	126	64.0	0.9	0.8
Severe exacerbation	130	66.0	0.9	0.8
Fatal CV event	22	11.2
Heart failure	124	62.9
Stroke	28	14.2
Myocardial infarction	23	11.7
Death due to non-CV event	81	5.4
No exacerbation before death	14	17.3
Exacerbation before death	67	82.7	1.6	1.0

Notes: ^aExcluding exacerbations that occur before death from causes other than a CV event (n=67). CV events and mortality were assessed prospectively while exacerbations were assessed retrospectively. ^bMean refers to the mean number of exacerbations per patient in our study, taking into account all patients (with and without exacerbations).

Abbreviations: COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CV, cardiovascular; SD, standard deviation.