Risk Stratifying COPD Exacerbations

To identify clinical characteristics on presentation which predict differential outcomes in patients with exacerbation of COPD.

Exacerbations of COPD (ECOPD) are heterogenous but are often considered as a single clinical entity. Clinical characteristics on presentation may predict outcome of patients with ECOPD. DECAF score was previously proposed to predict in-hospital mortality but has not been validated in Asian subjects. ROME classification was recently proposed to better risk stratify ECOPD according to symptoms, physiological parameters and laboratory findings on admission, but no prospective validation study is available so far. This study aims to identify clinical characteristics on presentation to predict outcome of patients with ECOPD.