TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019-Related Infection Prevention and Control Measures on the Occurrence of COPD Exacerbations During Inpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation
AU - Waeijen-Smit, Kiki
AU - Houben-Wilke, Sarah
AU - Posthuma, Rein
AU - de Jong, Fenne
AU - Janssen, Daisy J. A.
AU - Loon, Nicole P. H. van
AU - Hajian, Bita
AU - Simons, Sami O.
AU - Spruit, Martijn A.
AU - Franssen, Frits M. E.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Rationale: A significant reduction in hospitalizations for acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPDs) has been reported during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It remains unclear whether this reduction is the result of health care avoidance by patients, or of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures.Objectives: Our objective was to explore the impact of COVID-19-related IPC measures on the occurrence of AECOPDs in a real -life inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) setting, thereby ruling out potential effects of health care avoidance.Methods: Patients with COPD admitted for 8 weeks of inpatient PR at Ciro (Horn, the Netherlands) between October 2020 and March 2021, the first winter with full COVID-19-related IPC measures, were compared to patients admitted during the same period in previous years (2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020). Electronic medical records were retrospectively screened for the occurrence of moderate to severe AECOPDs, drop -out, and mortality.Results: A total of 501 patients with COPD (median age 66.6 [interquartile range (IQR) 60.3-71.9] years, 43.1% male, forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1] 35.9 [26.8-50.6] % predicted) were analyzed. During 2020-2021, 22 patients (31.0%) experienced >= 1 AECOPD compared to 43 patients (33.6%) in 2019-2020, 55 patients (36.9%) in 2018-2019, and 83 patients (54.2%) in 2017-2018. This represents a 25.4% reduction in 2020-2021 compared to the average of the previous 3 periods, p=0.077. No differences in AECOPD severity, drop -out, or mortality were observed.Conclusions: COVID-19-related IPC measures did not significantly reduce the AECOPD rate during inpatient PR in a single -center setting. The current findings suggest that avoidance of health care may be an important factor in the observed reduction of AECOPD- related hospitalizations during the pandemic and that the value of the strict COVID-19-related IPC measures for the prevention of AECOPDs warrants further research.
AB - Rationale: A significant reduction in hospitalizations for acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPDs) has been reported during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It remains unclear whether this reduction is the result of health care avoidance by patients, or of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures.Objectives: Our objective was to explore the impact of COVID-19-related IPC measures on the occurrence of AECOPDs in a real -life inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) setting, thereby ruling out potential effects of health care avoidance.Methods: Patients with COPD admitted for 8 weeks of inpatient PR at Ciro (Horn, the Netherlands) between October 2020 and March 2021, the first winter with full COVID-19-related IPC measures, were compared to patients admitted during the same period in previous years (2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020). Electronic medical records were retrospectively screened for the occurrence of moderate to severe AECOPDs, drop -out, and mortality.Results: A total of 501 patients with COPD (median age 66.6 [interquartile range (IQR) 60.3-71.9] years, 43.1% male, forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1] 35.9 [26.8-50.6] % predicted) were analyzed. During 2020-2021, 22 patients (31.0%) experienced >= 1 AECOPD compared to 43 patients (33.6%) in 2019-2020, 55 patients (36.9%) in 2018-2019, and 83 patients (54.2%) in 2017-2018. This represents a 25.4% reduction in 2020-2021 compared to the average of the previous 3 periods, p=0.077. No differences in AECOPD severity, drop -out, or mortality were observed.Conclusions: COVID-19-related IPC measures did not significantly reduce the AECOPD rate during inpatient PR in a single -center setting. The current findings suggest that avoidance of health care may be an important factor in the observed reduction of AECOPD- related hospitalizations during the pandemic and that the value of the strict COVID-19-related IPC measures for the prevention of AECOPDs warrants further research.
KW - COPD exacerbations
KW - COVID-19
KW - infection prevention
KW - control measures
KW - pulmonary rehabilitation
U2 - 10.15326/jcopdf.2022.0345
DO - 10.15326/jcopdf.2022.0345
M3 - Article
C2 - 36599097
SN - 2372-952X
VL - 10
SP - 127
EP - 138
JO - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases : Journal of the COPD Foundation
JF - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases : Journal of the COPD Foundation
IS - 2
ER -