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A snapshot of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease management in general practice in Ireland

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Abstract

Background

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of death and disability. Its diagnosis, classification and management are complex. There is a paucity of data on the standard of COPD management in Irish general practice.

Aims

We studied whether COPD diagnosis and management was in accordance with the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines. We investigated if patients who were smokers had received smoking cessation advice. We examined whether influenza and pneumococcal vaccination had been given.

Methods

Ten general practices affiliated with the Irish Mid-West Specialist Training Programme in General Practice (GP) were searched, to determine which patients had a diagnosis of COPD. A data-collection audit tool was developed using GOLD 2019 guidelines. Results were tabulated in SPSS. Descriptive statistics were used.

Results

Of 482 patients studied, 91.7% were eligible for free GP care. In 49.4%, the diagnosis of COPD had been made appropriately. In 56.2%, there was no evidence that the stage of COPD had been formally assessed. Of the patients studied, 33.2% were deemed to be receiving appropriate therapy. Smoking status was documented in 99.6% of cases studied and 59.9% were ex-smokers, while 25.9% were current smokers. Appropriate smoking cessation advice had been offered to 71% of eligible patients. Influenza vaccine had been given to 66.2% in the previous 12 months. A total of 53.9% had ever received pneumococcal vaccination.

Conclusions

This study provides a comprehensive snapshot of care in Irish general practice for patients with COPD prior to introduction of the Chronic Disease Management programme (CDM).

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Data availability

All data is available for review by contacting the Principal Investigator at Raymond.oconnor@ul.ie

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the ten practices who allowed us to access their practice records which enabled us to conduct this research.

Funding

We acknowledge financial support from Health Services Executive Ireland (Mid-West) for financial assistance and support in statistical analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mid-West Specialist Training Programme in General Practice, University of Limerick, Plassey, Limerick, Ireland

    Liam O’Halloran, Amy Purcell, Eoin Ryan, Louise Troddyn, Martin Slepanek, Neil O’Driscoll, Orlaith O’Reilly, Paul Stassen, Sarah Anne Bennett & Raymond O’Connor

  2. Department of General Practice, School of Medicine, University of Limerick, Plassey, Limerick, Ireland

    Jane O’Doherty & Raymond O’Connor

Authors
  1. Liam O’Halloran
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  2. Amy Purcell
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  3. Eoin Ryan
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  4. Jane O’Doherty
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  5. Louise Troddyn
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  6. Martin Slepanek
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  7. Neil O’Driscoll
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  8. Orlaith O’Reilly
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  9. Paul Stassen
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  10. Sarah Anne Bennett
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  11. Raymond O’Connor
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Contributions

Ray O’Connor conceived the idea. All authors were involved in study design and research ethics application. Amy Purcell, Eoin Ryan, Liam O’Halloran, Louise Troddyn, Martin Slepanek, Neil O’Driscoll, Orlaith O’Reilly, Paul Stassen and Sarah-Anne Bennett gathered study data. Jane O’Doherty performed statistical analysis. All authors were involved in writing up study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liam O’Halloran.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

The study was granted research ethics approval by the ICGP Research Ethics Committee in December 2019.

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All authors consent to publication of this paper.

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O’Halloran, L., Purcell, A., Ryan, E. et al. A snapshot of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease management in general practice in Ireland. Ir J Med Sci 190, 1055–1061 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-020-02435-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-020-02435-9

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