Influences of patient education on exacerbations and hospital admissions in patients with COPD – a longitudinal national register study

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) contributes to impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Patient education and smoking cessation programs are recommended to reduce the number of exacerbations and hospitalizations, but the effects of such programs have yet to be explored in larger samples.Objective: The aim was to explore the longitudinal effects of patient education and smoking cessation programs on exacerbations and hospital admissions in patients with COPD.Design: This is a register study where data from the Swedish National Airway Register, including 20,666 patients with COPD, were used. Baseline measures of demographic, disease-related, and patient-reported variables were compared with a follow-up, 10–30 months after baseline. Descriptive statistics and changes between baseline and follow-up were calculated.Results: Comparing those not participating in education programs to those who did, HRQoL deteriorated significantly between baseline and follow-up in non-p...