<p>Clinical Features Of Women With COPD: Sex Differences In A Cross-Sectional Study In Spain (“The ESPIRAL-ES Study”)</p>

Abstract

AimThis cross-sectional multicenter study was performed aimed at describing the clinical characteristics of women with COPD attended in routine daily practice in Spain.Methods and resultsOf a total of 1610 consecutive patients diagnosed with COPD recruited in primary care centers and pneumology services throughout Spain over a 90-day period, 17.9% (n=286) were women, with a median age of 62 years. Differences in COPD phenotypes by sex were statistically significant (P = 0.002). Males as compared with females showed a higher prevalence of non-exacerbator (47.9% vs 42.2%) and exacerbator with chronic bronchitis (22.9% vs 18.8%) phenotypes, whereas the ACOS phenotype was more common among females (21.7% vs 12.9%). The mean (SD) CAT score was similar in men than in women (20.8 [9.0] vs 21.2 [8.7], P = 0.481), as well as the impact of the disease on the quality of life according to CAT scores of <5 (no impact), 5–9 (low), 10–20 (medium), >20 (high), and >30 (very high). Sex-related differences according to smoking status were statistically significant (P < 0.001), with a higher percentage of men as compared with women in the groups of current smokers and ex-smokers; never-smokers were higher in women (9.1%) than in men (0.6%). The mean number of comorbidities was 2.01 (1.43) (95% CI 1.93–2.09) in males and 1.99 (1.42) (95% CI 1.83–2.16) (P = 0.930) in females, but cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, ischemic heart disease, chronic heart failure) were more frequent in men, whereas metabolic disorders (osteoporosis) were more frequent in women.ConclusionThis study highlights the impact of COPD in women and the importance of continuing sex-based research in tobacco-related respiratory diseases.

Time Trends (2012–2020), Sex Differences and Predictors for Influenza Vaccination Uptake among Individuals with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Spain

“…In any case, we do not have any indication that suggests that COPD women are less likely to have true COPD. However, women more frequently than men suffer the asthma–COPD overlap syndrome, and this could result in misclassification [ 66 ]. This issue requires further investigation.…”

Metabolomic Profiling Reveals Sex Specific Associations with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Emphysema

“…As of 2017, chronic lower respiratory diseases, including COPD, ranked as the 3rd leading cause of death in females and the 4th leading cause of death in males in the US, accounting for 6.2% and 5.2% of deaths, respectively [ 4 ]. There are several reasons to consider analyzing the metabolome of COPD separately in men and women, including sex differences in age of onset of severe COPD [ 5 , 6 , 7 ], prevalence of airway disease and emphysema [ 8 , 9 ], and COPD-related comorbidities [ 10 ]. There have been reports of metabolome differences by sex [ 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

Women with COPD

“…Of the 1610 participants recruited in the study, 17.9% were women. The study highlighted a significant difference between genders regarding the patient's smoking status, with higher numbers of men reported as current smokers and ex-smokers and more women with COPD who had never smoked (9.1% in comparison to the male participants reported at 0.6% [ 4 ]). It has further been suggested that women are more susceptible to the effects of tobacco smoke, and there is evidence that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is associated with COPD and affects women more often than men.…”