Spontaneous pneumothorax – 5 years review

Introduction: Spontaneous pneumothorax is classified as primary when there is no known pulmonary disease and secondary when occurs as a complication of underlying lung disease, being chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) the most common. Purpose: Characterization of patients hospitalized for spontaneous pneumothorax in the last 5 years. Methods: Retrospective review of 123 cases of patients hospitalized for spontaneous pneumothorax between 2013 and 2017. Clinical and demographic data, recurrence, complications and treatment were analysed. Results: The prevalence of spontaneous pneumothorax was higher in males (85%) and in those with smoking habits (51% of smokers). Primary spontaneous pneumothorax occurred in 71% of the cases and the average age of these patients was significantly lower (27±9 years vs 50±23 years; p Conclusion: As expected according to the literature, recurrence was higher in primary pneumothorax, which may be explained by the smaller occurrence of secondary pneumothorax.