Determinants for changing the treatment of COPD: a regression analysis from a clinical audit

Introduction

This study is an analysis of a pilot COPD clinical audit that evaluated adherence to guidelines for patients with COPD in a stable disease phase during a routine visit in specialized secondary care outpatient clinics in order to identify the variables associated with the decision to step-up or step-down pharmacological treatment.

Methods

This study was a pilot clinical audit performed at hospital outpatient respiratory clinics in the region of Andalusia, Spain (eight provinces with over eight million inhabitants), in which 20% of centers in the area (catchment population 3,143,086 inhabitants) were invited to participate. Treatment changes were evaluated in terms of the number of prescribed medications and were classified as step-up, step-down, or no change. Three backward stepwise binominal multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to evaluate variables associated with stepping up, stepping down, and inhaled corticosteroids discontinuation.

Results

The present analysis evaluated 565 clinical records (91%) of the complete audit. Of those records, 366 (64.8%) cases saw no change in pharmacological treatment, while 99 patients (17.5%) had an increase in the number of drugs, 55 (9.7%) had a decrease in the number of drugs, and 45 (8.0%) noted a change to other medication for a similar therapeutic scheme. Exacerbations were the main factor in stepping up treatment, as were the symptoms themselves. In contrast, rather than symptoms, doctors used forced expiratory volume in 1 second and previous treatment with long-term antibiotics or inhaled corticosteroids as the key determinants to stepping down treatment.

Conclusion

The majority of doctors did not change the prescription. When changes were made, a number of related factors were noted. Future trials must evaluate whether these therapeutic changes impact clinically relevant outcomes at follow-up.

Predictive Model for Anxiety and Depression in Spanish Patients with Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

INTRODUCTION

The association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and anxiety and depression is not yet completely characterized, and differences between countries may exist. We used a predictive model to assess this association in a Spanish population.

PATIENTS AND METHOD

Prospective transversal descriptive study of 204 patients with stable COPD. Concomitant anxiety or depression were diagnosed by psychiatric assessment, using the diagnostic criteria of the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). Sociodemographic, clinical and lung function parameters were analyzed.

RESULTS

In total, 36% of stable COPD patients had psychiatric comorbidities, but 76% were unaware of their diagnosis. Nineteen percent had a pure anxiety disorder, 9.8% had isolated depression, and 7.3% had a mixed anxiety-depression disorder. Predictive variables in the multivariate analysis were younger age, higher educational level, lack of home support, higher BODE index, and greater number of exacerbations. The ROC curve of the model had an AUC of 0.765 (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

In COPD, concomitant psychiatric disorders are significantly associated with sociodemographic factors. Anxiety disorders are more common than depression. Patients with more severe COPD, according to BODE, younger patients and those with a higher educational level have a greater risk of being diagnosed with anxiety or depression in a structured psychiatric interview. In our population, most patients with psychiatric comorbidities remain unidentified.