A summary of UK national# COPD audit findings, 1997–2019
| Pilot | Cross-sectional national# | Continuous prospective national# | ||||||
| 1997 [11] | 2001 [12] (LT/LD/SD) | 2003 [13, 19] | 2008 [14, 20] | 2014 [15, 21] | 2017 [16, 22] | 2017–2018 [17] | 2018–2019 [18] | |
| Method | Volunteer hospitals, retrospective audit of 40 consecutive admissions | Volunteer hospitals, 8 weeks of prospective data collection | All admitting units invited to take part, 40 consecutive admissions | All admitting units invited to take part, up to 60 consecutive admissions | All admitting units invited to take part, all cases over 3 months | All admitting units invited to take part, continuous audit of all cases | All admitting units invited to take part, continuous audit of all cases | All admitting units invited to take part, continuous audit of all cases |
| Reporting period dd/mm/yyyy | From 01/09/1997 | From 01/02/2001 | From 01/09/2003 | From 03/03/2008 | From 01/02/2014 | Cases discharged 01/02/17–13/09/17 | Cases discharged 14/09/17–30/09/18 | Cases discharged 01/10/18–30/09/19 |
| Units | 43 | 30## | 234 | 232 | 199 | 182 (95%) | 179 | 195 (86%) |
| Cases¶ | 1400 | 1366 | 8013 | 9716 | 13 414 | 34 641 | 74 645 | 82 268 |
| Case ascertainment | Not ascertained | Not ascertained | Not ascertained | Not ascertained | 67 (48–91)% | 54 (31–73)% | 55 (34–70) | Not yet available |
| Median annual emergency COPD admissions per unit | 458 (n=196) | 504 (n=202) | 570 (n=198) | 609 (n=190) | ||||
| Median WTE respiratory consultant per 1000 COPD admissions | 5.3 | 6.7 | 7.5 | |||||
| Median COPD nurse per 1000 COPD admissions | 1.9 | 0.9 | 1.3 | |||||
| Median specialist physio per 1000 COPD admissions | 2.2 | 1.9 | 1.9 | |||||
| Age years | 72 (66–78) | 72/71/71 | 71±10 | 73±10 | 72 (65–80) | 73 (65–80) | 73 (65–79) | 71±11 |
| Sex F:M | 44:53 | 42/58; 39/61; 46/53 | 47:53 | 50:50 | 51:49 | 53:47 | 53:47 | 54:46 |
| Length of Stay days | 8 (4–12) | 6/7/7 (3/5/4–12/11/11) | 6 (3–11) | 5 (3–10) | 4 (2–8) | 4 (2–7) | 4 (2–7) | 4 (2–7) |
| Inpatient mortality | 5%/9%/12% | 7.7% | 7.8% | 4.3% | 3.9% | 3.8% | 3.6% | |
| Death by 3 months | 13 (9–20)% | 12%/11%/18% | 15 (9–21)% | 14% | 12% | 11% | 12% | Not yet available |
| Readmission by 3 months | 34 (25–44)% | Not recorded | 32 (22–40)% | 33% | 43% | 43% | 43% | Not yet available |
| Specialist review | Not recorded | Not recorded | 70% at any time | 78% at any time | 79% at any time; Median 26 h | 78% at any time; 55% within 24 h; Median 16 h | 85% at any time; 64% within 24 h; Median 15 h | 87% at any time; 66% within 24 h; Median 15 h |
| Units with access to an integrated care team (%) | 45 | 59 | 82 | |||||
| Spirometry available | 53%§ | F§: 50%/46%/37% M§: 53%/52%/32% | 55%§ | 55% | 46% | 40% | 41% | 46% |
| Noninvasive ventilation | 3%ƒ | 8%/6%/2% | 9% | 11%; 25% in ≤3 h | 12%; 42% in ≤3 h | 11% | 10%; 21% ≤2 h | 10%; 24% ≤2 h |
| Smoking cessation advice to smokers | 30 (14–45)% | 29%/26%/17% | Not recorded | Not recorded | 58% | |||
| Inhaler technique assessed | 20 (4–26)% | 34%/11%/11% | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | DISCHARGE BUNDLE¶¶ 53% | DISCHARGE BUNDLE¶¶ 67% | DISCHARGE BUNDLE¶¶ 74% |
| Assessed for PR | 3 (0–3) % | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | 56% | |||
| Follow-up arranged | 63 (50–80%) | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | |||
Data are presented as mean±sd, median (IQR) or %, unless otherwise stated, and variation was not always reported in the original (referenced) reports. WTE: whole time equivalents; LT: large teaching; LD: large district; SD: small district; F: female; M: male; PR: pulmonary rehabilitation; IQR: interquartile range; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 s; NIV: noninvasive ventilation. #: See individual reports for detail on inclusion of data from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales; ¶: not all data available for all variables, sum may not be 100% if some data missing; §: for FEV1 and within 5 years; ƒ: invasive or NIV combined; ##: deliberately selected as a mix of 10 LT, 10 LD and 10 SD hospitals representative across England and Wales; ¶¶: A standard British Thoracic Society bundle consists of these four metrics combined.