External Validation of the COmorbidity Test

ABSTRACTThe COmorbidity TEst (COTE) is a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)-specific co-morbidity score created to predict mortality. Before its wide application at the University of New Mexico we intended to validate it. The study was conducted at the University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) in Albuquerque, NM, USA, a tertiary academic hospital. Consecutive patients with the clinical diagnosis of COPD were identified using the hospital's medical records system and included if they were older than 40 years, had smoked at least 20 pack-years and their post bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in the first second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) was <0.7 without an alternative diagnosis. The data collected included demographics, co-morbidities as described in the COTE, COPD-specific therapies, spirometry results and mortality. Of 317 patients 51.4% were male, average age was 65.6 ± 9.6 years and the mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 percent predicted (FEV1%) was 52.9 ± 16.9%. 31 (9.8%) patients wer...