WEUSKOP6416: Evaluating Pneumonia in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Subjects

Pneumonia remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults with obstructive lung disease. Risk factors for pneumonia, including episodes associated with a hospital admission, have been extensively characterized in clinical trials and observational studies of patients with COPD, and include older age, lower predicted FEV1 (\<50%), prior COPD exacerbations, dyspnea , normal to low body mass index (\<25), current smoking and certain co-morbid conditions (e.g. dementia). The use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) has also been identified, as associated with an increased risk of pneumonia in patients with COPD. The primary objective of this study is to estimate the magnitude of known risk factors and the outcomes of pneumonia requiring hospitalization and the potential effect modification of these risk factors by ICS use. The primary endpoints will be severe pneumonia, defined as community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) resulting in hospitalization and/or death and hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) diagnosed after two days in the hospital. As a secondary endpoint, CAP that did not result in hospitalization or death will be examined. As a secondary objective, we will describe characteristics for those patients who develop pneumonia requiring hospitalization compared to those with pneumonia not requiring admission. This study will use the General Practice Online Database (GOLD), formerly referred to as the General Practice research Database (GPRD), a primary care electronic medical record database. A new user cohort will be defined among patients with COPD who are 45 years and older in the United Kingdom. Patients will be considered a new user of ICS-containing medications if they had not received a prescription for an ICS-containing medication in the prior year. The comparator treatment group will be new users of long-acting bronchodilators (LABD), including long-acting beta-agonists (LABA) or long-acting antimuscarinics (LAMA). In the one year washout per