Table 4.
Final treatment-related decisions recommended after the follow-up visit
| Variables | Average* (n=621) |
Interhospital range | P-value# | Autumn (n=179) |
Winter (n=144) |
Spring (n=175) |
Summer (n=123) |
P-value‡ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnosis of COPD recorded (n) | 603 (97.1) | 94.5–100 | <0.001 | 172 (96.1) | 140 (97.2) | 170 (97.1) | 121 (98.4) | 0.713 |
| GOLD type identified (n) | 224 (36.1) | 3.4–100 | <0.001 | 61 (34.1) | 52 (36.1) | 70 (40.0) | 41 (33.3) | 0.598 |
| GesEPOC phenotype identified (n) | 294 (47.3) | 8.6–95.0 | <0.001 | 76 (42.5) | 68 (47.2) | 94 (53.7) | 56 (45.5) | 0.193 |
| GOLD or GesEPOC patient type identified (n) | 423 (68.1) | 13.8–100 | <0.001 | 115 (64.2) | 100 (69.4) | 129 (73.7) | 79 (64.2) | 0.192 |
| Detailed treatment recommendations (n) | 603 (97.1) | 89.7–100 | <0.001 | 173 (96.6) | 141 (97.9) | 171 (97.7) | 118 (95.9) | 0.729 |
| Recommendation on smoking (n) | 278 (44.8) | 8.6–92.6 | <0.001 | 82 (45.8) | 58 (40.3) | 84 (48.0) | 54 (43.9) | 0.566 |
| Recommendation on exercise (n) | 276 (44.4) | 2.5–88.9 | <0.001 | 71 (39.7) | 72 (50.0) | 81 (46.3) | 52 (42.3) | 0.269 |
| Recommendation on influenza vaccine (n) | 269 (43.3) | 2.5–93.8 | <0.001 | 73 (40.8) | 52 (36.1) | 86 (49.1) | 58 (47.2) | 0.083 |
| Recommendation on pneumococcal vaccine (n) | 116 (18.7) | 0–40.7 | <0.001 | 32 (17.9) | 24 (16.7) | 34 (19.4) | 26 (21.1) | 0.798 |
| Pharmacological treatment changed (n) | 199 (35.2) | 10.5–58.0 | <0.001 | 54 (32.0) | 49 (36.0) | 57 (36.1) | 39 (38.2) | 0.732 |
| Type of pharmacological change | ||||||||
| Increase in the number of drugs (n) | 99 (17.5) | 5.6–28.4 | 0.023 | 26 (15.4) | 26 (19.1) | 28 (17.7) | 19 (18.6) | 0.834 |
| Decrease in the number of drugs (n) | 55 (9.7) | 0–14.5 | 0.286 | 18 (10.7) | 12 (8.8) | 14 (8.96) | 11 (10.8) | 0.907 |
| Change in drug type (n) | 45 (8.0) | 0–19.8 | 0.003 | 10 (5.9) | 11 (8.1) | 15 (9.5) | 9 (8.8) | 0.665 |
| Discharged from the clinic (n) | 30 (4.8) | 0–16.5 | <0.001 | 6 (3.4) | 5 (3.5) | 6 (3.4) | 13 (10.6)§ | 0.012 |
Notes:
*
Data are expressed as mean (SD) or absolute (relative) frequencies depending on the nature of the variable.
#
Calculated for the variability between centers using ANOVA and Chi-square test, depending on the nature of the variable.
‡
Calculated for the variability between seasons using ANOVA and Chi-square test, depending on the nature of the variable.
§
Significant difference versus the rest of the seasons.
Abbreviations: ANOVA, analysis of variance; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; SD, standard deviation.