Women with severe COPD respond better to treatment with home oxygen therapy than men.

-women may be more susceptible to the effects of the inhaled smoke

-symptoms, the impact and the level of activity that can be improved more in women with oxygen therapy treatment for severe COPD that men

Spain, 2011-October the magazine archives of Bronconeumologíaofficial organ of the Spanish society for Pneumology and thoracic surgery, has published a study on the response to treatment with home oxygen therapy in patients with obstructive pulmonary disease chronic (COPD) serious revealed that there are different answers depending on the sex of the patient. Although symptoms improved in both cases, women show a more pronounced improvement especially in relation to the activity and the impact of the disease.

Currently the patient type of COPD is has rejuvenated ” and feminized ”. Patients have an average age of diagnosis of fifty years, and while it was a very male disease, now tends to match as a result of the increase in smoking in women from the early 1970s (study EPISCAN) and the smoke from cigarettes appears to affect them more to them. Women thus represent a rapidly growing proportion of all patients with COPD. Women with COPD are younger, smoke less, respond to a lesser extent to the treatment of pulmonary rehabilitation and equal degree of blockage of airflow that men have more shortness of breath.

The study published in archives of Bronconeumología and carried out by a group of Brazilian specialists has compared the response to treatment with home oxygen therapy of severe COPD in relation to sex. The study involved 51 men and 46 women with treatment of oxygen therapy for at least 18 hours a day to control the evolution of the symptoms during 1 year.

The results clearly demonstrate the benefit of oxygen therapy with regard to the State of health in hypoxemic patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. All patients showed a significant improvement in the total score control questionnaire to 6 months and a significant improvement in the score of the sphere of symptoms at 6 months, which stood at 12 months of follow-up.

However, in the analysis stratified by sex exclusive finding of this study are sex differences in response to oxygen therapy in patients with COPD graves. In women, a persistent improvement of symptom score and total score was observed and, in comparison, the men observed a significant worsening of the score of activity, impact, and total score in the questionnaire.

sphere of activity which valued the questionnaire includes physical activities that induce Dyspnea or are limited by this. The results of this study demonstrate that limitation of activity was the variable in the State of health with a noticeable deterioration in men. Compared with women, men tend to make a greater effort, and in contrast to this is predictable that patients undergoing oxygen therapy stay more time at home and reduce your overall level of exercise.

These results show that in patients with severe COPD, health status differs according to sex, while women show a greater longitudinal response to oxygen.

In the same way, analyzing the State of health and the history of the patient participants, this study has also confirmed sex differences in the history of smoking, and obstruction of airflow. Women with COPD develop hypoxemia with a lesser degree of blockage of air flow and a smoking significantly less than men. The results support the notion that women could be more vulnerable to the harmful effects of the smoke inhaled.