Burden of Disease Among Exacerbating Patients with COPD Treated with Triple Therapy in Spain.

Background

The cost of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Spain has been studied from different perspectives, but parameters such as the patient's phenotype have seldom been considered. Our aim was to describe the disease burden of COPD patients with frequent exacerbator phenotype, treated with triple therapy.

Methods

An observational, multicenter study was carried out from December 2017 to November 2018 in pulmonology services among patients ≥40 years with COPD confirmed diagnosis receiving triple therapy (ICS/LAMA/LABA) and history of ≥2 moderate or ≥1 severe exacerbation in the 12 months prior to the inclusion visit. COPD-related healthcare resources were collected over a 12-months period prior to the inclusion visit: pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, medical and ER visits, hospitalizations, tests and productivity loss. Costs were updated to €2019. Patients were classified according to blood eosinophil levels: <150 cells/µL and ≥150 cells/µL.

Results

A total of 306 patients were included (77.1% men), with mean age of 69.9 years. Mean COPD exacerbation rate was 2.5/patient/year and 51.3% of patients had ≥150 cells/µL eosinophil level. On average, for the total population, COPD-related visits/patients/year were 6.2. Resource use in moderate exacerbation was higher in patients with eosinophils ≥150 cells/µL, whereas in severe exacerbation was higher in patients with eosinophils <150cells/µL. According to eosinophil levels, total annual mean (SD) costs/patient accounted for €8382 (9863) and €5144 (5444) for patients with eosinophils <150 cells/µL and ≥150 cells/µL, respectively.

Conclusion

The impact of exacerbating COPD patients treated with triple therapy in Spain is large, especially among those with eosinophils <150 cells/µL.

Informations de copyright

© 2021 Alcázar-Navarrete et al.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Bernardino Alcázar-Navarrete reports grants and personal fees from GSK, grants, personal fees and non-financial support from Novartis AG, personal fees and non-financial support from Boehringer Ingelheim, personal fees and non-financial support from Chiesi, Laboratories FAES, and Gilead, grants, personal fees and non-financial support from Laboratorios Menarini, personal fees from Gebro, personal fees from Astra- Zeneca, personal fees from Laboratorios Rovi, personal fees from Laboratorios Ferrer. Francisco García-Rio has received speaker fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, Menarini, Novartis and Rovi, and consulting fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis. Guadalupe Sánchez and Andrea García, are GSK employees. Esther Mariscal was a GSK employee when the study was conducted. Maribel Cuesta and Estefany Uría, are employees of Oblikue Consulting and were involved in data monitoring board, study design, manuscript preparation, and statistical analysis for GlaxoSmithKline. Marc Miravitlles has received speaker fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, Cipla, Menarini, Rovi, Bial, Sandoz, Zambon, CSL Behring, Grifols and Novartis, consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, Bial, Gebro Pharma, Kamada, CSL Behring, Laboratorios Esteve, Ferrer, Mereo Biopharma, Verona Pharma, TEVA, Spin Therapeutics, pH Pharma, Novartis, Sanofi and Grifols and research grants from and Grifols. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.