STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF COPD PATIENTS WITH RESPECT TOGENDER: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

This study has been conducted to evaluate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients in
Turkey in terms of gender. This cross-sectional study was performed on 416 COPD patients during January
2014 to January 2016. The various clinical parameters of the patients were obtained from the electronic
data bank of the Kars Harakani State Hospital, Kars, Turkey. Patients number of hospitalization, one-year
mortality, complete blood cell count, blood gas parameters, and the relationship of these parameters with
gender was evaluated. Around 38% of the patients were found to be female. The association of height,
body mass index (BMI), and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) with gender is found statistically
significant (p<0.001). The results further indicated that the association of FEV1 with BMI and weight is
directly proportional and FEV1 has a moderate positive correlation with weight and BMI (p<0.001, r=0.250;
p<0.001, r=0.371). The association of FEV1 levels with gender are also found statistically significant
(p<0.001). FEV1 level are found to be related with smoking status (p<0.001) and co-morbidity (p=0.001)
and thus affects in terms of the severity of the disease. No relationship between gender and the outcome
of the present hospitalization, mortality or being referred to a more advanced health institution (p=0.202)
has been observed. The association of whether mortality occurred or not in a year after the present
hospitalization with the gender is statistically significant (p<0.011). The association of C-reactive protein
(CRP), platelet, platelet distribution width (PDW), plateletcrit (PCT), hemoglobin, and hematocrit values
with gender are also statistically significant (p=0.009, p=0.004, p=0.048, and p<0.001). Eosinophile count
has a weak positive correlation with the number of hospitalizations. On the basis of the findings of the
study it is concluded that a number of studied parameters affect the severity of COPD and male patients
are more affected than females.