Sex-related differences in management of Swedish patients with a clinical diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Figures & data

Table 1 Patient characteristics

	Women (%) N=745	Men (%) N=584	P-value
Level of care
Primary care	496 (67)	397 (68)	Ref
Hospital	249 (33)	187 (32)	0.589
Age
<61	128 (17)	73 (13)	Ref
61–70	359 (48)	264 (45)	0.280
>70	258 (35)	247 (42)	0.004
Current daily smoking	203 (28)	142 (25)	0.177
Asthma	295 (40)	176 (30)	<0.0001
Diabetes	100 (14)	105 (18)	0.023
Heart disease	113 (15)	169 (29)	<0.0001
Stroke	49 (7)	54 (9)	0.072
Hypertension	354 (48)	266 (46)	0.461
Anxiety/depression	223 (30)	100 (17)	<0.0001
Sleep apnea	57 (8)	82 (14)	<0.0001
Rheumatic disease	115 (16)	38 (7)	<0.0001
Osteoporosis	156 (21)	60 (11)	<0.0001
BMI
<20	59 (8)	23 (4)	0.035
20–24.9	186 (26)	129 (23)	Ref
25–29.9	273 (38)	249 (43)	0.058
≥30	198 (28)	172 (30)	0.146
High educational level	146 (20)	123 (21)	0.569
CAT ≥10	461 (78)	340 (73)	0.061
mMRC ≥2	421 (59)	292 (52)	0.007
Exacerbations previous 6 months	266 (37)	180 (32)	0.082
Self-rated moderate/severe disease	445 (64)	351 (67)	0.281

Note: Patient characteristics distributed by sex.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; CAT, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Assessment Test; mMRC, modified Medical Research Council scale; Ref, Reference category.

Figure 1 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management in men and women. Results from cross-tabulations of COPD management distributed by sex.

Table 2 Associations of female sex with care-related actions in COPD

	Triple therapy OR (95%CI)	Maintenance treatment OR (95%CI)	Sick leave OR (95%CI)	Offered smoking cessation support OR (95%CI)	Received smoking cessation support OR (95%CI)	Pneumococcal vaccination OR (95%CI)
Female sex	1.86 (1.38–2.51)	1.82 (1.31–2.55)	2.16 (1.19–3.93)	1.80 (1.18–2.75)	1.43 (1.01–2.02)	1.82 (1.37–2.43)
Age - Under 61 - 61–70 - Over 70	ref 1.38 (0.91–2.11) 1.18 (0.76–1.84)	ref 1.32 (0.84–2.08) 1.67 (1.02–2.74)	ref 0.73 (0.41–1.30) 0.15 (0.03–0.66)	ref 0.96 (0.56–1.63) 0.72 (0.39–1.30)	ref 0.70 (0.44–1.11) 0.43 (0.26–0.72)	ref 1.84 (1.21–2.81) 2.95 (1.90–4.60)
Exacerbations	1.35 (0.99–1.85)	1.69 (1.13–2.54)	2.41 (1.29–4.52)	1.45 (0.92–2.26)	0.91 (0.62–1.33)	1.44 (1.06–1.96)
CAT	0.65 (0.42–1.01)	0.76 (0.50–1.16)	2.33 (0.97–5.62)	0.82 (0.45–1.49)	0.84 (0.52–1.36)	1.03 (0.69–1.56)
mMRC	2.42 (1.71–3.42)	2.12 (1.44–3.12)	1.94 (1.01–3.72)	1.20 (0.75–1.94)	1.10 (0.73–1.64)	1.35 (0.97–1.89)
Disease severity	4.12 (2.79–6.10)	2.97 (2.01–4.39)	2.32 (1.17–4.62)	1.36 (0.80–2.30)	1.49 (0.97–2.30)	1.72 (1.20–2.48)
Comorbidity - 0 - 1 - 2 - 3–7	ref 1.40 (0.95–2.06) 0.97 (0.63–1.51) 1.07 (0.66–1.74)	ref 1.18 (0.78–1.79) 1.24 (0.76–2.02) 1.03 (0.60–1.78)	ref 0.67 (0.33–1.35) 1.61 (0.69–3.75) 2.50 (0.95–6.53)	ref 0.93 (0.54–1.59) 0.90 (0.48–1.68) 1.06 (0.54–2.05)	ref 1.36 (0.87–2.13) 1.43 (0.85–2.40) 0.88 (0.50–1.56)	ref 0.86 (0.59–1.24) 0.89 (0.59–1.40) 0.83 (0.52–1.32)
Higher level of education	0.83 (0.58–1.18)	0.82 (0.56–1.19)	0.70 (0.35–1.37)	1.87 (1.17–2.98)	1.27 (0.84–1.91)	1.57 (1.13–2.20)
BMI <20 20–24.9 25–29.9 ≥30	1.10 (0.59–2.07) ref 0.95 (0.65–1.38) 1.08 (0.72–1.62)	0.56 (0.27–1.17) ref 0.69 (0.50–1.07) 0.79 (0.49–1.27)	1.82 (0.55–6.03) ref 1.17 (0.55–2.47) 1.49 (0.66–3.33)	1.20 (0.54–2.69) ref 1.48 (0.87–2.54) 1.17 (0.64–2.11)	1.73 (0.86–3.50) ref 1.40 (0.90–2.19) 1.23 (0.76–1.99)	0.91 (0.49–1.67) ref 1.22 (0.86–1.75) 0.76 (0.52–1.13)

Note: Results from multivariate logistic regression, adjusted for all variables in the left column.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; CAT, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Assessment Test; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; mMRC, modified Medical Research Council scale; Ref, reference category.

Figure 2 Influence of female sex on care-related actions. Results from logistic regression of the associations of female sex with different care-related actions as dependent variables. The analyses were adjusted for the potential confounders age groups (3 groups), level of education, previous exacerbations or not, mMRC dyspnea scale (≤ or >1), CAT score (< or ≥10), BMI (four groups), comorbidity index (0, 1, 2 or ≥3 comorbid conditions) and self-rated moderate/severe disease or not.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; CAT, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Assessment Test; mMRC, modified Medical research council scale.