Objective: to estimate mortality due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), risk of dying from COPD without hospital admission and mortality within 30 days after hospital admission for COPD in an Italian region.
Methods: population registries of death causes and hospital discharge reports were used as data sources; COPD was identified through ICD-9 codes = 490.X, 491.X, 492.X, 494.Xe 496.X. Age-adjusted mortality rates were calculated by direct standardisation using the Italian population from 1996 to 2000; logistic regression was used to estimate predictors of dying from COPD in multivariable models.
Results: there were 4,292 deaths among men and 2,713 among women; the mean annual mortality was 3.68/10,000 inhabitants among men and 2.29/10,000 among women.
Conclusion: no statistically significant trend was observed from 1996 to 2000, but the increase in mortality rate was higher for females (13.2%) than for males (2.0%), suggesting a possible inversion in smoking habit between sexes. The risk of dying without hospitalisation was higher for males who resided outside Rome (OR 1.65; CI 95% 1.04-2.62). Mortality within 30 days after hospitalisation was 4.2% among 25,046 patients. Patients who died were more likely to be over 54 and male, to have comorbidities or complications, hospitalised in general wards rather than pneumology or intensive care units, and have been on ventilation.