Background
Patients with mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) account for more than half of the total COPD population but are often undiagnosed and sparsely studied. This real-world, longitudinal study compared the socioeconomic burden, clinical characteristics and treatment patterns in patients with mild COPD and age- and gender-matched controls.
Patients and methods
Our population included mild COPD patients (forced expiratory volume in one second ≥80% of predicted value) and reference controls from 52 Swedish primary care centres over 15 years (2000–2014). We linked electronic medical record (EMR) data to Sweden’s National Health Registries. The outcomes analyzed were socioeconomic status including annual income from work, presence of comorbidities and the use of medications.
Results
844 patients with mild COPD were included in this study and matched with 844 reference controls. Compared with the reference controls, mild COPD patients had a significantly lower annual income from work (mean difference, men: 12,559€ and women: 7143€) and were significantly less likely to be married or employed. The presence of comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease, anxiety and depression (only women) was significantly higher in mild COPD patients. The use of medications, such as proton pump inhibitors, antidepressants, central painkillers and sleep medications, was significantly higher in the mild COPD group.
Conclusion
Mild COPD presents a considerable socioeconomic and clinical burden compared with reference controls The findings suggest that COPD constitutes a condition that influences health status even in mild disease clearly demanding an increased need for early detection and treatment.
Henry Jenkins' concept of "Textual Poachers" dealt with the tension between the producer of the text and fans who appropriates the text. However, the tension between producers and consumers has been resolved by transferring the official agency's authority to build and nurture idols to fans in Chinese virtual idol fandom culture. The relationship between fans and idols has also shifted from one-sided dependence to symbiosis by building a clear reciprocity between them. Therefore, fans have become creators with the important roles and meanings as idol's agencies, not just poachers of text. The form of media has changed with the times, and this change has led to the reversal and transfer of media power relations. Fans have undergone changes in their status from a complete audience to a participant who takes the initiative. Especially, fans of Chinese virtual idols are empowered to create virtual idols' works and personalities by themselves because they got the maximum space of creation and the initiative for their idols. Thus, fans' participation activities are no longer limited to the "reproduction" of meta-text, but can enter the "production" process of meta-text in a true sense. The fan-participating culture of Chinese virtual idols shows new characteristics such as more generalized public participation, reversal of power between producers and fans, and products of fans that easily enter the mainstream.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.