Impact of comorbidities on survival of patients with COPD according to GOLD stages

Introduction: In COPD patients the impact of comorbidities on patient's outcomes is gaining interest. The aim of our study is to describe the role of comorbidities on mortality according to COPD GOLD stages. Methods: We enrolled and followed 1664 patients from the BODE cohort over 10 years in five tertiary centers in the USA and Spain. Demographics, anthropometrics, physiological, comorbidities and survival with cause of death were recorded systematically. Patients were grouped according to GOLD stages I-II, III and IV. Tukey's test was used to compare means among groups. A multivariate analysis was used to select those comorbidities associated with mortality. The effect of comorbidities over survival time was explored using Cox proportional hazard. Results: Groups characteristics and differences are shown in table 1. GOLD IV subjects were significantly younger, had fewer comorbidities and higher mortality. Furthermore comorbidities did not influence mortality in these subject and they died mainly from COPD (Table 2 and 3). ![Figure][1] In contrast, in patients in GOLD I-II and III several comorbidities influence survival with lung cancer being the most important.(Table 3). Conclusion: Different comorbidities have an impact in mortality at different COPD GOLD stages. We suggest the inclusion of those comorbidities as part of the evaluation of COPD patients. [1]: pending:yes