Women hospitalized for COPD exacerbations in the US had shorter hospital stays than men, and they also had a lower death rate, according to researchers.
In a nationwide, retrospective analysis, female COPD patients showed a reduced adjusted in-hospital mortality versus males (odds ratio 0.88; P=0.02). Women also had a lower mean length of stay (4.16 versus 4.38 days, P<0.01), and lower rates of thoracentesis (OR 0.74, P<0.01), and incidence of shock of any type (OR 0.78, P=0.02) throughout the examined time period, reported Navid Gholitabar of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, and colleagues.
However, total hospitalization charges, use of bronchoscopy, and need for ICU admission did not differ significantly by gender, they reported at Chest, the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting.
