Trends of hospital admissions for acute exacerbation of COPD in Spain: Additional studies are needed

摘要

We have read with interest the letter to the editor published by Esquinas et al. [1] in reference to our article entitled 'Trends in hospital admissions for acute exacerbation of GOPD in Spain from 2006 to 2010" [2]. We would like to make several considerations.From CMBD data, we cannot estimate the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, other studies have showed that COPD prevalence has increased over time, although the rate of increase in recent years has declined, particularly among men [3]. Consequently, the decreased incidence of hospital admissions for acute exacerbations of COPD (AE-COPD) is valuable itself and should not be considered as result of a decline in COPD prevalence.