Death risk higher in women on oxygen for COPD
Posted on: Monday, 4 September 2006, 08:36 CDT
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women on oxygen therapy for severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have a greater risk of dying than men, according to a prospective study of 435 oxygen-dependent COPD patients.
COPD, a progressive lung illness often caused by smoking that includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, is characterized by airflow limitation that is not fully reversible. People with severe COPD often require continuous oxygen therapy.
Dr. Maria-Christina L. Machado of the State Public Hospital in Sao Paulo Brazil and colleagues followed 184 women and 251 men receiving oxygen therapy over seven years.
They observed that the "hazard ratio" for death was markedly higher in female subjects relative to male subjects, after adjusting for age, smoking history, lung function and body weight.
Men and women exhibited similar survival rates during the initial follow-up period; survival differences became more apparent only after three years of follow up.
In an editorial on the research, Dr. David M. Mannino of the University of Kentucky Medical Center suggests that "one explanation for the worse survival among women might be that some of the systemic complications of COPD, such as muscle dysfunction or depression, are more common in women and that these lead to worse outcomes."
In two recent studies of COPD patients, the prevalence of depression was nearly three times higher in women as men (38 percent vs 13 percent) and the prevalence of fat-free body mass depletion was twice as high (40 percent vs 20 percent), Mannino notes.
"While we do not know whether these complications were increased in the study by Dr. Machado and colleagues, it is plausible that the observed differences may have been related to these or other COPD-related complications that differ between the sexes," Dr. Mannino writes.
SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, September 2006.
Source: REUTERS
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