Prevalence and healthcare utilization of eosinophilic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the UK: an observational electronic health record-based cohort study
Cohort study reveals limited biologic therapy eligibility and elevated mortality in severe eosinophilic COPD, indicating a highly targeted patient population for advanced treatments.
Key Points
To quantify the prevalence of eosinophilic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and determine the proportion of patients eligible for biologic therapy under different clinical criteria.
Retrospective observational cohort study using the Optimum Patient Care Research Database across 727 primary care practices in the UK (N=6,601,051).
Assessed eosinophilic COPD prevalence as of January 1, 2024, evaluated biologic eligibility criteria, and tracked risk factors and health outcomes across a 1-year follow-up period.
A total of 40,840 patients (0.62%) had eosinophilic COPD; only 1,117 (0.017%) met biologic eligibility with ≥2 exacerbations on triple therapy without asthma, and 419 (0.006%) met criteria requiring ≥3 exacerbations.
Patients with ≥3 exacerbations on triple therapy experienced significantly greater hazard of 1-year all-cause mortality (adjusted cumulative incidence 18.5% vs 7.6%; HR 2.5, 95% CI 2.0–3.3) and all-cause hospitalization (57.5% vs 33.2%; HR 2.3, 95% CI 2.0–2.7).