SARS-CoV-2 causes life-threatening pneumonia in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Key clinical point: In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) leads to poorer clinical outcomes than non-SARS-CoV-2 CAP.

Main finding: After adjustment for inverse propensity weighting (IPW) and pneumonia severity index, patients with COPD and SARS-CoV-2 CAP had higher odds of intensive care unit (ICU) admission during hospitalization (IPW-odds ratio [OR] 2.41), invasive mechanical ventilation requirement (IPW-OR 2.23), a cardiovascular event (IPW-OR 4.98), and in-hospital mortality (IPW-OR 7.31) and a longer length of hospital stay (all P < .001) than patients with COPD  who were non-SARS-CoV-2 CAP.

Study details: The analysis compared 96 hospitalized patients with COPD and SARS-CoV-2 CAP with 1,129 patients with COPD and non-SARS-CoV-2 CAP included in the Burden of COVID-19 study and the University of Louisville Pneumonia Study, 2 large observational retrospective and prospective studies, respectively.

,

Disclosures: The study was sponsored by the Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Louisville. None of the authors reported any conflict of interests.

Source: Sheikh D et al. Respir Med. 2021’191:106714 (Dec 8). Doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2021.106714.