Background: In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), multiple recurrent severe exacerbations that require hospitalization can occur. These events are strongly associated with death and other clinical complications.
Objectives: We aimed to develop a prognostic model that could identify patients with COPD that are at risk of multiple recurrent severe exacerbations within 3 years.
Design: Prospective cohort.
Methods: The derivation cohort comprised patients with stable, moderate-to-severe COPD. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to develop the final model. Based on regression coefficients, a simplified index (ESEx) was established. Both, model and index, were assessed for predictive performance by measuring discrimination and calibration.
Results: Over 3 years, 16.4% of patients with COPD experienced at least three severe recurrent exacerbations. The prognostic model showed good discrimination of high-risk patients, based on three characteristics: the number of severe exacerbations in the previous year, performance in the five-repetition sit-to-stand test, and in the 6-minute-walk test. The ESEx index provided good level of discrimination [areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUCs): 0.913].
Conclusions: The ESEx index showed good internal validation for the identification of patients at risk of three recurrent severe COPD exacerbations within 3 years. These tools could be used to identify patients who require early interventions and motivate patients to improve physical performance to prevent recurrent exacerbations.
Keywords: 6-minute-walk test (6MWT); COPD; five-repetition sit-to-stand test (5-STS); hospital admission; recurrent exacerbation.
© The Author(s), 2023.