Characteristics of some neighborhoods, including higher poverty, more uninsured residents and lower educational attainment, may play a part in an increase in COPD-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations.
According to a news release, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin conducted an observational, ecological study analyzing nearly 10,000 COPD-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations and 30-day readmissions in census tracts in Travis County, Texas, from 2016 through 2020.
The paper, “Census Tract Variability in COPD Emergency Department, Hospitalization and Readmission Rates in Travis County, Texas,” was published in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: The Journal of the COPD Foundation.
Census tracts are small, relatively permanent subdivisions of a county, averaging approximately 4,000 people. Population characteristics, economic status and living conditions are consistent among each census tract.
The results of the research showed geographic patters across neighborhoods when examining specific characteristics for emergency departments and hospitalizations related to COPD exacerbations. Hospital readmission rates did not show the same geographic patterns.
“Our findings suggest that addressing the risk of COPD exacerbations requires not just prioritizing individual medical care but also implementing community-level interventions that target neighborhood risk factors,” said lead author Trisha M. Parekh, DO, MSPH, of the division of pulmonary and critical care at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. “By combining population-based data with studies focusing on an individual’s exacerbation risk profile, we can inform appropriate policies to help improve people’s quality of life and reduce acute care use.”
