Characteristics of patients with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation
| Total patients | Antibiotics | No antibiotics | |
| Patients | 45 375 | 27 904 | 17 471 |
| Sex | |||
| Male | 22 665 (50.0%) | 13 944 (50.0%) | 8721 (49.9%) |
| Female | 22 710 (50.0%) | 13 960 (50.0%) | 8750 (50.1%) |
| Age years | 71.0±10.5 (39.5–104.7) | 70.0±10.4 (39.5–103.5) | 72.6±10.4 (39.6–104.7) |
| BMI kg·m−2 | 26.4±6.3 (10.0–68.3) | 26.7±6.2 (10.0–65.3) | 25.9±6.4 (11.3–68.3) |
| Cigarettes per day# | 14.2±11.3 (1–100) | 14.4±11.2 (1–100) | 14.0±11.5 (1–100) |
| Smoking history | n=45 202 | n=27 847 | n=17 355 |
| Non-smoker | 4986 (11.0%) | 3011 (10.8%) | 1975 (11.3%) |
| Past smoker | 22 297 (49.3%) | 13 550 (48.7%) | 8747 (50.4%) |
| Current smoker | 17 919 (39.6%) | 11 286 (40.5%) | 6633 (38.2%) |
| COPD status¶ | n=9834 | n=6342 | n=3492 |
| Mild | 3336 (33.9%) | 2258 (35.6%) | 1078 (30.9%) |
| Moderate | 3897 (39.6%) | 2603 (41.0%) | 1294 (37.1%) |
| Severe | 2432 (24.7%) | 1384 (21.8%) | 1048 (30.0%) |
| Very severe | 169 (1.7%) | 97 (1.5%) | 72 (2.1%) |
| Ethnicity | |||
| Bangladeshi | 14 (0.03%) | 9 (0.03%) | 5 (0.03%) |
| Black | 55 (0.12%) | 33 (0.12%) | 22 (0.13%) |
| Chinese | 7 (0.02%) | 5 (0.02%) | 2 (0.01%) |
| Indian | 60 (0.13%) | 41 (0.15%) | 19 (0.11%) |
| Mixed | 15 (0.03%) | 12 (0.04%) | 3 (0.02%) |
| Other ethnic group | 10 (0.02%) | 5 (0.02%) | 5 (0.03%) |
| Any other Asian | 23 (0.05%) | 19 (0.07%) | 4 (0.02%) |
| Pakistani | 23 (0.05%) | 165 (0.06%) | 7 (0.04%) |
| Unknown race | 32 746 (72.17%) | 19 622 (70.32%) | 13 124 (75.12%) |
| White | 12 422 (27.38%) | 8142 (29.18%) | 4280 (24.50%) |
| Practice location | |||
| England | 34 673 (76.4%) | 21 447 (76.9%) | 13 226 (75.7%) |
| Northern Ireland | 1300 (2.9%) | 662 (2.4%) | 638 (3.7%) |
| Scotland | 4565 (10.1%) | 2697 (9.7%) | 1868 (10.7%) |
| Wales | 4837 (10.7%) | 3098 (11.1%) | 1739 (10.0%) |
Data are presented as mean±sd (range) unless otherwise stated. BMI: body mass index. #: for current smokers; ¶: severity of COPD as based on medical codes.