Women with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease are more susceptible than men to the harmful effects of smoking.

A study conducted by researchers in Lleida has identified gender differences among patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The article, published in the journal BMC Pulmonary Medicine, determines that men and women have similar comorbidities but that women are more susceptible to the harmful effects of smoking and have more bronchiectasis (a chronic airway disease involving dilation of the bronchi), among other effects.

Knowing the distribution and strength of association of each comorbidity and risk factor in men and women diagnosed with COPD provides additional information for daily clinical practice in identifying patients with a higher suspicion of suffering from COPD. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease of the airways characterised by difficulty in moving air, especially during expiration. COPD progresses in a progressive manner and symptoms generally become evident from the age of 40-50 years. Difficulty in moving air becomes particularly apparent during physical activity (exertional dyspnoea). As the disease progresses, the sensation of breathlessness (dyspnoea) occurs with progressively less exertion.

The study was conducted by Josep Montserrat, head of studies at the MAFiC Lleida Teaching Unit and researcher in the Applied Epidemiology research group at IRBLleida; Maite Castañ, a doctor at the Eixample CAP in Lleida; and Maite Castañ, the coordinator of the USR Lleida, the coordinator of the MAFiC Lleida Teaching Unit and researcher in the Applied Epidemiology research group at IRBLleida; the coordinator of the USR Lleida-ICS and researcher at the IDIAP Jordi Gol and the Applied Epidemiology research group at IRBLleida, Marta Ortega; the epidemiologist and researcher in the Applied Epidemiology research group at IRBLleida, Miquel Alsedà; Ferran Barbé, head of the Pneumology Service at the Hospital Universitari Arnau de Vilanova and head of the Translational Research in Respiratory Medicine research group at IRBLleida; Josep Ramon Marsal, researcher at the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit at Vall d'Hebron; and Pere Godoy, head of the Public Health Epidemiological Surveillance Service and head of the Applied Epidemiology research group at IRBLleida.

The study is the result of the SIDIAP grant (IDIAP Jordi Gol) won by the research group in 2017 and which allows access to variables recorded in the eCAP of more than 5.5 million users of Primary Care of the ICS. In this case, the research staff wanted to determine whether there were clinical-epidemiological differences, associated comorbidities, and analytical and biomedical parameters between patients diagnosed with COPD in Primary Care based on the fact of being male or female. The study was conducted between January 2012 and December 2017. The eCAP variables of 5,800,000 users from a total of 279 Primary Care Centres throughout Catalonia were reviewed and those variables of interest were collected from among the users who met the inclusion criteria.

Text: Communication IRBLleida and IDIAP Jordi Gol