%0 Journal Article %A Ritsuko Wakabayashi %A Jean Bourbeau %A Maria F. Sedeno %A Takashi Motegi %A Tomoko Kutsuzawa %A Tetsuya Urano %A Kozui Kida %T Multi-centre comparison of self-management in patients with COPD %D 2021 %R 10.1183/23120541.00252-2021 %J ERJ Open Research %P 00252-2021 %X In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), self-management (SM) plays an important role in disease management. Recently, SM programmes have expanded patient education practices to include a variety of disease management techniques. We hypothesised that COPD patients have insufficient and/or different SM needs according to institution. We compared information needs of patients between specialised clinics in Canada (SCC) and Japan (SCJ), and a hospital outpatient clinic in Japan (HCJ), all employing different SM interventions.This cross-sectional study evaluated patients’ information needs for disease management using the lung information needs questionnaire (LINQ). Further, we assessed pulmonary function tests, modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea scale (MMRC), and frequencies of hospitalisations and emergency visits.The total number of patients was 183. SCC were younger (p=0.047), with lower FEV1%predicted (p<0.0001) and scored higher on MMRC. Total LINQ scores showed differences among institutions (p<0.0001). There was no difference for the smoking domain; however, SCC recorded significantly lower information needs for all other domains (p<0.02). No significant difference in emergency visits was seen among institutions but HCJ recorded the highest rate of emergency visits, while SCC had significantly higher rates of hospitalisation (p=0.004). Differences were seen for frequency and duration of education between institutions.These results highlight the differences in information needs by institution and the importance of assessing individual needs. We believe our findings, although only one aspect of SM, reflect real-world circumstances adding to the argument that an SM education should be structured but flexible to meet the changing needs of COPD patients.FootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.Conflict of interest: Ritsuko Wakabayashi has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Jean Bourbeau has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Maria F. Sedeno has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Takashi Motegi has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Tomoko Kutsuzawa has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Tetsuya Urano has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Kozui Kida has nothing to disclose. %U https://openres.ersjournals.com/content/erjor/early/2021/06/25/23120541.00252-2021.full.pdf