Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has become a serious global health care and public health problems due to its high prevalence, high morbidity and heavy economic burden. Acute exacerbation of COPD is one of the most important causes of death in patients with COPD. The global strategy for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of COPD recommends systemic corticosteroids therapy in COPD exacerbations as it can shorten recovery time, reduce treatment failure, improve lung function and arterial hypoxemia. In clinical practice for the treatment of acute exacerbation of COPD， antibiotic application is still controversial. Evidence from current guideline is based on strict criteria from randomized controlled trials, thus the given condition is simplified. Patients meet the criteria account for the minority in the real world. Therefore, it is still not clear whether most patients benefit from the recommended treatment. In our design, hospitalized patients with acute exacerbation of COPD will be enrolled, with their treatment, arterial hypoxemia, recovery time and length of hospitalization being observed. The main purpose is to evaluate the benefit effect of current recommended treatment of acute exacerbation of COPD in the real world.
