Centro per la Salute dell'Anziano, Area di Geriatria, Università Campus Biomedico, Roma, Italy.
BMC Pulm Med. 2010 Jun 7;10:35. doi: 10.1186/1471-2466-10-35.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects independence and survival in the general population, but it is unknown to which extent this conclusion applies to elderly people with mild disease. The aim of this study was to verify whether mild COPD, defined according to different classification systems (ATS/ERS, BTS, GOLD) impacts independence and survival in elderly (aged 65 to 74 years) or very elderly (aged 75 years or older) patients.
We used data coming from the Respiratory Health in the Elderly (Salute Respiratoria nell'Anziano, SaRA) study and compared the differences between the classification systems with regards to personal capabilities and 5-years survival, focusing on the mild stage of COPD.
We analyzed data from 1,159 patients (49% women) with a mean age of 73.2 years (SD: 6.1). One third of participants were 75 years or older. Mild COPD, whichever was its definition, was not associated with worse personal capabilities or increased mortality after adjustment for potential confounders in both age groups.
Mild COPD may not affect survival or personal independence of patients over 65 years of age if the reference group consists of patients with a comparable burden of non respiratory diseases. Comorbidity and age itself likely are main determinants of both outcomes.
慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）会影响普通人群的独立性和生存能力，但尚不清楚这一结论在轻度疾病的老年人群中适用到何种程度。本研究旨在验证根据不同分类系统（ATS/ERS、BTS、GOLD）定义的轻度 COPD 是否会影响老年（65 至 74 岁）或非常老年（75 岁或以上）患者的独立性和生存能力。
我们使用来自老年呼吸健康研究（Salute Respiratoria nell'Anziano，SaRA）的数据，并比较了不同分类系统在个人能力和 5 年生存率方面的差异，重点关注 COPD 的轻度阶段。
我们分析了来自 1159 名患者（49%为女性）的数据，这些患者的平均年龄为 73.2 岁（SD：6.1）。三分之一的参与者年龄在 75 岁或以上。无论采用哪种定义，轻度 COPD 与个人能力下降或调整潜在混杂因素后两组患者死亡率增加均无关。
如果参考组由非呼吸系统疾病负担相当的患者组成，那么 65 岁以上患者的轻度 COPD 可能不会影响其生存或个人独立性。合并症和年龄本身可能是这两个结果的主要决定因素。
