Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a problem requiring constant surveillance, both clinical and epidemiological.
Aim: The aim of study was to analyze territorial and temporal variability of COPD hospitalization and incidence, as far as expenses incurred by the National Health Fund (NHF) due to medical treatment of disease in the Silesian Voivodeship based on secondary epidemiological data.
Material and methods: The epidemiological situation was presented on the basis of available health benefits data registered in adult patients with COPD treated from the NHF budget in the Silesian Voivodeship. The dynamics of incidence rates in 2006–2010, prevalence rates of hospitalization in 2000–2011 and costs of treatment of the disease were investigated. We also present variability of incidence and prevalence in particular districts of study region.
Results: The standardized incidence rate of COPD in the Silesian Voivodeship is still high, although it slowly decreased from the value of 656.93/100,000 in 2007 to 470.7/100,000 in 2010. We observed a significant decrease of hospitalization from 217.0/100,000 in 2005 to 117.7/100,000 in 2011. Higher values of both rates refer to men, besides, we observed their spatial variability in particular districts. The average annual cost of new cases of COPD treatment in Silesian Voivodeship was approximately 5 million EUR (20 million PLN), while the annual cost of all hospital admissions decreased substantially from the value of approx.10 million EUR (40 million PLN) in 2003 to approx. 5 million EUR (20 million PLN) in 2011.
Conclusions: We observed temporal and spatial variability of COPD incidence and prevalence in Silesian Voivodeship. Asignificant reduction of COPD hospitalization rate implies serious reduction of expenses incurred by National Health Found.
Keywords: COPD; health map; descriptive study; treatment costs.