Table 4.

Use of health resources during the previous year in patients with COPD in function of the presence or the absence of associated heart disease*.

Health resources	Patients without heart disease (n = 7,620)	Patients with heart disease (n = 1,770)	p
No. of visits to the primary care doctor	6.48 ± 5.51	7.75 ± 6.59	< 0.05
No. of visits to the pneumology clinics	1.36 ± 1.40	1.79 ± 2.01	< 0.05
No. of visits to emergency departments	1.83 ± 0.83	2.10 ± 0.94	< 0.05
No. of hospital admissions	0.40 ± 1.10	0.90 ± 1.50	< 0.05
Length of hospital stay (days)	6.09 ± 10.32	11.82 ± 14.99	< 0.05

* Values are expressed as mean ± Standard deviation. All means have been adjusted to age and gender using the direct method. NS: not significant.