Table 1 Characteristics of the participating hospitals and resources of the respiratory units
All | Small hospital | Large hospital | P † | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of participating hospitals, n | 59 | 27 | 32 | |
Public hospital (%) | 93.2 | 85.2 | 100 | 0.039 |
University hospital (%) | 83.1 | 63 | 100 | < 0.001 |
Beds per center ≥ 500 (%) | 62.7 | 18.5 | 100 | < 0.001 |
Beds per center, median (P25–75) | 651 (349–943) | 332 (231–436) | 903 (702–1199) | < 0.001 |
Hospital with a respiratory ward (%) | 83.1 | 63 | 100 | < 0.001 |
Number of inpatient respiratory beds ≥ 20 (%) | 83.7 | 52.9 | 100 | < 0.001 |
Number of pulmonology staff members ≥ 5 (%) | 81.4 | 59.3 | 100 | < 0.001 |
Number of pulmonology staff members, median (P25–75) | 10 (5–13) | 5 (2–8) | 13 (10–16) | < 0.001 |
Pulmonology residents available (%) | 67.8 | 33.3 | 96.9 | < 0.001 |
Number of annual outpatient respiratory visits, median (IQR) | 15,447 (12004–25,680) | 12,004 (4355–13,556) | 23,985 (16070–27,838) | < 0.001 |
Number of annual outpatient respiratory visits ≥ 10,000 (%) | 81.4 | 59.3 | 100 | < 0.001 |
≥ 15 min of follow-up at general outpatient respiratory visit (%) | 44.1 | 48.1 | 40.6 | 0.562 |
Specialized COPD outpatient clinic available (%) | 47.5 | 40.7 | 53.1 | 0.343 |
≥ 15 min of follow-up at specialized COPD outpatient visit (%) | 64.4 | 74.1 | 56.3 | 0.154 |
Outpatient respiratory nursing clinic availability (%) | 45.8 | 44.4 | 46.9 | 0.852 |
Functional respiratory laboratory available (%) | ||||
- Spirometry | 100 | 100 | 100 | 1 |
- Diffusing capacity | 100 | 100 | 100 | 1 |
- Plethysmography | 100 | 100 | 100 | 1 |
- Respiratory muscle strength | 84.7 | 66.7 | 100 | < 0.001 |
- 6MWT available | 94.9 | 88.9 | 100 | 0.090 |
- Cardiopulmonary exercise testing available | 62.7 | 40.7 | 81.3 | 0.001 |
Inhalation technique educational program available (%) | 30.5 | 15.6 | 48.1 | 0.007 |
Respiratory rehabilitation program available (%) | 74.6 | 66.7 | 81.3 | 0.2 |
- Hospital-based | 61.4 | 61.1 | 61.5 | 0.617 |
- Home-based | 6.8 | 11.1 | 3.8 | |
- Mixed | 31.8 | 27.8 | 34.6 | |