COPD affects the lungs and progresses, resulting in frequent hospitalization, burdening patients, families and health care systems. It has been viewed as a condition usually associated with male smokers., it is crucial to identify gaps in care that lead to higher utilization," said Dr. Kate Johnson, assistant professor, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia .
The researchers from UBC, Providence Health Care Research Institute and St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, looked at national data on hospital admissions in Canada to understand trends in admissions for COPD. They identified 1,134,359 admissions for COPD in patients aged 40 years and older between 2002 and 2017.
Of the total admissions, 240,611 were for younger adults aged 40–64 years and more than half of admissions in this age group were for females. Over the 16-year study period, the number of annual hospital admissions for COPD increased by 68.8%, from 52,937 to 89,384.