Predictors of lung function and its decline in mild to moderate COPD in association with gender: Results from the Euroscop study

SummaryBackgroundThere is increasing appreciation of gender differences in COPD but scant data whether risk factors for low lung function differ in men and women. We analysed data from 3 years follow-up in 178 women and 464 men with COPD, participants in the Euroscop Study who were smokers unexposed to inhaled corticosteroids.MethodsExplanatory variables of gender, age, starting age and pack-years smoking, respiratory symptoms, FEV1%FVC and FEV1%IVC (clinically important measures of airway obstruction), body mass index (BMI), and change in smoking were included in multiple linear regression models with baseline and change in post-bronchodilator FEV1 as dependent variables.ResultsReduced baseline FEV1 was associated with respiratory symptoms in men only. Annual decline in FEV1 was not associated with respiratory symptoms in either men or women, and was 55ml less in obese men (BMI⩾30kg/m2) than men having normal BMI, an effect not seen in women. It was 32ml faster in women with FEV1%FVC