Table 1.
Demographic, clinical and therapeutic characteristics of patients with COPD diagnosis who are cared by General Practitioners (GPs) participating to the study evaluation before and after educational intervention vs. Italian general population (Health Search—IMS Health Longitudinal Patient Database: HSD)
| Pre-intervention | Post intervention | P valuea | Italian GPs database - HSD | P valueb | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | Follow-up at 12 mo. | Follow-up at 24 mo. | Baseline vs. FU at 24 mo. | HSD vs. FU at 24 mo. | ||
| No. 1,465 | No. 1,395 | No. 1,388 | No. 1,025 patientsc | No. 31,691 | ||
| Gender | ||||||
| Male | 929 (63.4) | 892 (63.9) | 900 (64.8) | — | 18,455 (58.2) | <0.001 |
| Female | 536 (36.6) | 503 (36.1) | 488 (35.2) | — | 13,236 (41.7) | |
| Age—Median (Q1–Q3)° | 74.0 (65.0–81.0) | 74.0 (65.0–81.0) | 74.0 (65.0–81.0) | — | 74.0 (65.0–81.0) | 0.364 |
| <45 | 29 (2.0) | 27 (1.9) | 24 (1.7) | — | 1108 (3.5) | <0.001 |
| 45–54 | 89 (6.1) | 82 (5.9) | 68 (4.9) | — | 2025 (6.4) | 0.025 |
| 55–64 | 221 (15.1) | 216 (15.5) | 223 (16.1) | — | 4677 (14.7) | 0.179 |
| 65–74 | 406 (27.6) | 402 (28.8) | 400 (28.8) | — | 8739 (27.5) | 0.310 |
| 75–84 | 517 (35.3) | 480 (34.4) | 478 (34.5) | — | 10,109 (31.9) | 0.047 |
| ≥85 | 203 (13.9) | 188(13.5) | 195 (14.0) | — | 5033 (15.8) | 0.066 |
| Smoking habit d | ||||||
| Smoker | 84 (5.7) | 59 (4.2) | 64 (4.6) | 0.414 | 8664 (27.3) | <0.001 |
| Former smoker | 670 (45.7) | 701 (50.3) | 706 (50.9) | 0.005 | 8267 (26.1) | <0.001 |
| No smoker | 366(25.0) | 359 (25.7) | 354 (25.5) | <0.001 | 8484 (26.7) | 0.296 |
| Unknown data | 345 (23.6) | 276 (19.8) | 264 (19.0) | <0.001 | 6276 (19.8) | 0.473 |
| BMI d | ||||||
| Underweight (<18.5) | 9 (0.6) | 15 (1.1) | 14 (1.0) | 0.046 | 427 (1.3) | 0.281 |
| Normal Weight (18.5–24.9) | 169 (11.5) | 179 (12.8) | 204 (14.7) | 0.033 | 6623 (20.9) | <0.001 |
| Overweight (25.0–29.9) | 376 (25.7) | 387 (27.7) | 414 (29.8) | <0.001 | 8928 (28.1) | 0.180 |
| Obese (>29.9) | 556 (38.0) | 550 (39.5) | 502 (36.2) | 0.497 | 8427 (26.6) | <0.001 |
| Unknown data | 355 (24.2) | 264 (18.9) | 254 (18.3) | <0.001 | 7286 (22.9) | <0.001 |
| Co-morbidities d | ||||||
| Hypertension | 881 (60.1) | 893 (64.0) | 888 (64.0) | <0.001 | 21,219 (66.9) | 0.021 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 419 (28.6) | 437 (31.3) | 432 (31.2) | <0.001 | 8312 (26.2) | <0.001 |
| Osteoporosis | 269 (18.4) | 275 (19.7) | 288 (20.8) | <0.001 | 7523 (23.7) | 0.010 |
| Anxiety and depression | 336 (22.9) | 340 (24.4) | 358 (25.8) | <0.001 | 9855 (31.1) | <0.001 |
| Dementia | 83 (5.7) | 104 (7.5) | 112 (8.1) | <0.001 | 3151 (9.9) | 0.021 |
| Myocardial infarction | 107 (7.3) | 110 (7.9) | 105 (7.6) | 0.008 | 5021 (15.8) | <0.001 |
| Heart Failure | 150 (10.2) | 137 (9.8) | 146 (10.5) | <0.001 | 3012 (9.5) | 0.208 |
| Pneumonia | 24 (1.6) | 34(2.4) | 40(2.9) | 0.014 | 1161 (3.6) | 0.127 |
| COPD pharmacological treatment e,f | ||||||
| LABA + ICS | 450 (30.1) | 420 (30.1) | 401 (28.9) | 0.003 | 8,996 (28.4) | 0.683 |
| LAMA | 347 (23.2) | 395 (28.3) | 368 (26.5) | 0.324 | 8,089 (25.5) | 0.408 |
| ICS | 335 (22.4) | 353 (25.3) | 325 (23.4) | 0.848 | 6,048 (19.1) | <0.001 |
| LABA + LAMA + ICS | 96 (6.6) | 107 (7.7) | 103 (7.4) | 0.758 | 3,552 (11.2) | <0.001 |
| LABA | 127 (8.7) | 139 (10.0) | 136 (9.8) | 0.377 | 2,598 (8.2) | 0.034 |
| Xanthines | 93 (6.4) | 88 (6.3) | 70 (5.0) | 0.157 | 1,747 (5.5) | 0.452 |
| LABA + LAMA | 34 (2.3) | 48 (3.4) | 71 (5.1) | 0.001 | 297 (0.9) | <0.001 |
| Concomitant drugs e | ||||||
| Antihypertensive drugs | 1,034 (70.6) | 992 (71.1) | 990 (71.3) | 0.003 | 21,830 (68.8) | 0.054 |
| Antibiotics | 907 (61.9) | 1,080 (77.4) | 1,156 (83.3) | <0.001 | 16,267 (51.3) | <0.001 |
| Systemic corticosteroids | 439 (30.0) | 460 (33.0) | 459 (33.1) | 0.008 | 8,079 (25.5) | <0.001 |
| Beta blockers | 351 (24.0) | 361 (25.9) | 384 (27.7) | 0.001 | 8,365 (26.4) | 0.293 |
| Anti-thrombotic drugs | 250 (17.1) | 234 (16.8) | 189 (13.6) | 0.129 | 4,397 (13.8) | 0.785 |
| Immunosuppressive drugs | 6 (0.4) | 7 (0.5) | 8 (0.6) | 0.046 | 129 (0.4) | 0.336 |
ap-values from McNemar’s Test (not performed for patient’s sex and age variables because patient’s sex cannot change from baseline whilst patient’s age obviously increase of 2 years exactly from baseline)
bp-values were calculated using Chi-square test while Student’s test was used for median values (comparisons between HSD vs. FU at 24 months)
cNo. of patients with registrations both at baseline and after 24 months
dAny time
eIn the last year; BMI: Body Mass Index; ICS: Inhaled Corticosteroids; LABA: Long Acting Beta Agonist; LAMA: Long Acting Muscarinic Antagonist
fNot mutually exclusive