AUTHOR=Poucineau Jonas , Khlat Myriam , Lapidus Nathanaël , Espagnacq Maude , Chouaïd Christos , Delory Tristan , Le Coeur Sophie 

TITLE=Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on COPD Patient Mortality: A Nationwide Study in France

JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health

VOLUME=69

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2024.1606617

DOI=10.3389/ijph.2024.1606617

ISSN=1661-8564

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objectives:</bold> We investigated the mortality patterns of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients in France relative to a control population, comparing year 2020 to pre-pandemic years 2017–2019.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> COPD patient and sex, age and residence matched control cohorts were created from the French National Health Data System. Survival was analyzed using Cox regressions and standardized rates.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> All-cause mortality increased in 2020 compared to 2019 in the COPD population (+4%), but to a lesser extent than in the control population (+10%). Non-COVID-19 mortality decreased to a greater extent in COPD patients (−5%) than in the controls (−2%). Death rate from COVID-19 was twice as high in the COPD population relative to the control population (547 vs. 279 per 100,000 person-years).</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> The direct impact of the pandemic in terms of deaths from COVID-19 was much greater in the COPD population than in the control population. However, the larger decline in non-COVID-19 mortality in COPD patients could reflect a specific protective effect of the containment measures on this population, counterbalancing the direct impact they had been experiencing.</p>