Causes of death among COPD patients in Malaysia: EXACOS-MY study

<bold>Introduction:</bold> In Malaysia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is frequently diagnosed in late stages. COPD patients with recurring exacerbations experience rapid decline in lung function and may succumb to the disease. The causes of mortality among COPD patients with history of severe exacerbation in Malaysia is unreported. <bold>Objective:</bold> To analyse the primary causes of death among COPD patients in Malaysia. <bold>Methods:</bold> The EXACerbations and their OutcomeS among COPD patients in MalaYsia (EXACOS-MY) study was an observational cross-sectional study conducted in three tertiary hospitals in Malaysia. Inclusion criteria were: confirmed diagnosis of COPD, availability of COPD-related medical records for at least three years, and history of at least one severe exacerbation. The primary causes of death were analysed for deceased patients. <bold>Results:</bold> The primary causes of death were analysed for 44 deceased patients. Of these, 70.5% (31/44 patients) succumbed to a respiratory-related death. The respiratory-related deaths were most commonly due to pneumonia (41.9%; 13/31 patients) or acute exacerbations of COPD (38.77%; 12/31 patients). Among the patients who succumbed to a non-respiratory-related death (29.5%; 13/44 patients), 5 patients (38.5%) passed from myocardial infarction, 3 patients passed from heart failure (23.1%) and infection (23.1%) each respectively, and 2 patients passed from other causes (15.4%). <bold>Conclusions:</bold> Most COPD patients in Malaysia succumbed to a respiratory-related death. Most respiratory-related deaths were due to pneumonia or acute exacerbations of COPD.