The Burden of Illness Related to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Exacerbations in Québec, Canada

Figure 2

Kaplan-Meier plot showing time to first COPD exacerbation for (a) an exacerbation, (b) moderate exacerbation, and (c) severe exacerbation. COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A moderate exacerbation was defined as a physician visit with a diagnosis code for COPD and an OCS or an antibiotic prescription for a respiratory infection (filled within 2 weeks of the physician visit). Patients included experienced ≥1 moderate exacerbation but no severe exacerbations. A severe exacerbation was defined as an ER visit with a primary diagnosis code for COPD or hospitalization with a primary discharge diagnosis code for COPD. Patients included experienced ≥1 severe exacerbation but may also have ≥1 moderate exacerbation.

(a)

(b)

(c)