Deprivation in COPD Linked to Increased Costs, Mortality

Deprivation in patients with

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

(COPD) is associated with increased emergency healthcare use, healthcare costs, and mortality rates, according to research.

A

study

published by the

International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

investigated the association between deprivation and healthcare use, costs, and survival, in order to consider the independent impact of deprivation on clinical outcomes for patients with COPD.

“National and international policies aim to tackle health inequalities associated with deprivation, yet the health gradient between affluent and more-deprived communities continues to be of concern, with incidence rates for diseases such as COPD being significantly higher in deprived areas,” the study said.

The study included a total of 424 outpatients with COPD and assessed their deprivation across 2 hospitals in the United Kingdom. The researchers used the English Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) to determine a deprivation score for each patient. Each patient was assigned an IMD score based on their address (postcode) at the time they visited the clinic. Then the IMD created an overall estimation of deprivation based on income, employment, health deprivation/disability, education/training/skills, barriers to housing, crime, and living environment for each postcode.