RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) is a common cause of hospitalization. Patient outcome and prognosis following AECOPD are variable. The aim of this study is to identify the factors associated with the incidence of serious adverse events (SAE), defined as need for ICU admission, noninvasive ventilation, death during hospitalization or early readmission, in those patients admitted with AECOPD. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study by reviewing the medical records of all patients admitted with AECOPD in the University Hospital Complex of Santiago de Compostela in 2007 and 2008. To identify variables independently associated with SAE incidence, we conducted a logistic regression including those variables which proved to be significant in the univariate analysis. RESULTS: 757 patients were assessed (mean age 74.8 years, SD 11.26), 77.2 % male, and 186 (24.6 %) of the patients assessed experienced an SAE. Factors associated with SAE in multivariate analysis were anticholinergic therapy (OR 3.19; CI 95 %: 1.16; 8.82), oxygen therapy at home (OR 3.72; CI 95 %: 1.62; 8.57), oxygen saturation at admission (OR 0.93; CI 95 %: 0.88; 0.99) and serum albumin (OR 0.26; CI 95 %: 0.1; 0.66). CONCLUSION: Oxygen therapy at home, anticholinergic therapy as baseline treatment, lower oxygen saturation at admission and lower serum albumin level seem to be associated with higher incidence of SAE in patients with AECOPD.