• Joseph E Amegadzie, Tae Yoon Lee, Mohsen Sadatsafavi, Larry D Lynd, Don D Sin, and Kate M Johnson.
• Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (Amegadzie, Lee, Sadatsafavi, Lynd, Johnson), and Respiratory Evaluation Sciences Program (Amegadzie, Lee, Sadatsafavi, Johnson), Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia; Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences (Lynd), Providence Health Institute; The Centre for Heart Lung Innovation (Sin), St. Paul's Hospital; Divisions of Respirology (Sin) and Respiratory Medicine (Johnson), Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
• CMAJ. 2023 Sep 11; 195 (35): E1172E1179E1172-E1179.

BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an ambulatory care-sensitive condition, and the rate of hospital admissions for COPD is an indicator of the quality of outpatient care. We sought to determine long-term trends in hospital admissions for COPD in Canada.MethodsUsing a comprehensive national database of hospital admissions in Canada, we identified those with a main discharge diagnosis of COPD for patients aged 40 years and older between 2002 and 2017. We calculated sex-specific, age-standardized trends in annual rates of hospital admissions for COPD separately for younger (40-64 yr) and older adults (≥ 65 yr). We used spline regression to examine changes in the admissions trends for each sex and age group.ResultsOver 16 years, 1 134 359 hospital admissions were for COPD. Between 2002 and 2017, the total number of admissions increased by 68.8%, from 52 937 to 89 384. The overall crude admission rate increased by 30.0%, from 368 to 479 per 100 000 population, and the sex-and age-standardized admission rate increased by 9.6%, from 437 to 479 per 100 000 population. Age-standardized rates increased by 12.2% among younger females, by 24.4% among younger males and by 29.8% among older females, but decreased by 9.0% among older males. Over the same period, the all-cause sex-and age-standardized admission rate declined by 23.0%.InterpretationHospital admissions for COPD have increased since 2010, even after adjusting for population growth and aging, and despite declining rates of all-cause hospital admissions. The secular increase in COPD admissions indicates that the burden of COPD on Canadian health care systems is increasing.© 2023 CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors.

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