Phenotypic Variation in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Primary Care
Table 2
Characteristics of all 438 patients with COPD treated in primary care.
Characteristic
All patients ()
Treated by GP only ()
Treated by GP and PT for COPD ()
value
Sex, male (%)
235 (54)
166 (52)
45 (58)
0.71
Age (yr), mean (SD)
69 (11)
69 (11)
69 (11)
0.29
Physical activity (0–8), mean (SD)
2.38 (2.31)
2.20 (2.33)
2.92 (1.99)
0.001
Smoking (pack years), mean (SD)
31.14 (23.54)
30.45 (23.30)
38.27 (22.32)
0.004
GOLD stage, (%)
<0.0001
I
141 (32)
133 (55)
5 (7)
II
116 (27)
88 (36)
27 (41)
III
35 (8)
14 (6)
21 (32)
IV
20 (5)
7 (3)
13 (20)
Comorbidity, (%)
Cardiovascular
116 (27)
88 (26)
25 (32)
0.171
Cardiac
82 (19)
61 (19)
16 (21)
0.440
Vascular
38 (9)
22 (7)
13 (17)
0.009
Stroke
20 (5)
14 (4)
6 (8)
0.177
Respiratory (asthma)
56 (13)
44 (14)
9 (12)
0.381
Psychological (depression)
60 (14)
44 (14)
10 (13)
0.499
Metabolic (diabetes)
70 (16)
50 (16)
13 (17)
0.469
Nutritional
115 (27)
87 (28)
23 (30)
0.390
Exacerbations in the past year, (%)
<0.0001
0
204 (51)
181 (57)
22 (28)
1; of which hospitalised
89 (22); 12 (13)
70 (22); 8 (11)
18 (23); 4 (22)
2; of which hospitalised
47 (12); 4 (9)
32 (10); 3 (9)
14 (18); 1 (8)
3; of which hospitalised
19 (5); 6 (32)
14 (5); 5 (36)
5 (7); 1 (20)
more than 3; of which hospitalised
39 (10); 21 (54)
19 (6); 11 (58)
19 (24); 10 (53)
Disease-related health status (0–6), mean (SD)
Total CCQ
1.51 (1.06)
1.32 (0.97)
2.19 (1.01)
<0.0001
Symptoms subscale
1.95 (1.19)
1.76 (1.14)
2.49 (1.13)
<0.0001
Functional state subscale
1.52 (1.28)
1.20 (1.13)
2.48 (1.29)
<0.0001
Mental state subscale
0.75 (1.06)
0.67 (1.00)
1.02 (1.13)
0.004
General health perception (0–5), (%)
<0.0001
1, excellent
6 (2)
4 (1)
1 (1)
2, very good
13 (3)
11 (4)
0
3, good
168 (42)
133 (47)
15 (20)
4, moderate
172 (44)
112 (39)
51 (66)
5, poor
37 (9)
26 (9)
10 (13)
GP: general practitioner; PT: physical therapist; SD: standard deviation; physical activity: rating from 0 “not physically active” to 8 “very physically active”; GOLD: the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease; GOLD stages: I: mild COPD, FEV1/FVC < 0.7, and FEV1 ≥ 80% of predicted; II: moderate COPD, FEV1/FVC < 0.7, and 50% ≤ FEV1 < 80% of predicted; III: severe COPD, FEV1/FVC < 0.7, and 30% ≤ FEV1 < 50% of predicted; IV: very severe COPD, FEV1/FVC < 0.7, and FEV1 < 30% of predicted or FEV1 < 50% of predicted plus chronic respiratory failure; FVC: postbronchodilator forced vital capacity; FEV1: postbronchodilator forced expiratory volume in one second; CCQ: Clinical COPD Questionnaire: rating from 0 “good” to 6 “bad.”
