Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Number of patients consulting

The graph below shows the estimated number of patients in Scotland (per 1,000 patients registered) who consulted either a GP or practice-employed nurse for COPD (chronic, obstructive pulmonary disease) at least once in the year ending 31 March 2008, by gender and age group. The rates of females consulting for COPD were higher than for males in the younger age categories, but in age groups 65 and over males were more likely to contact their practice for COPD.

All estimates are standardised by deprivation to account for any differences between the PTI sample population and the Scottish practice population in levels of deprivation. These figures and comparable figures for 2003/04 to 2006/07 are also provided in tabular format in an Excel document  (72KB).

COPD¹ - estimated number of patients in Scotland consulting a GP or practice nurse at least once in the financial year 2007/08 ^{2, 3} per 1,000 patients registered
by gender and age group

¹ Based on ISD's Read code groupings (RCGs) 'COPD'.
² Based on 47 PTI practices that submitted complete GP and practice nurse data for the year ending 31 March 2008. Rates are standardised by deprivation.
³ Population source: Community Health Index (CHI) record, as at 30 September 2007.

Note: Due to improvements made to the statistical model used to calculate PTI estimates, figures shown here are not strictly comparable to these provided prior to 31 March 2009.  See the Note of Revisions for further information.

Source: Practice Team Information (PTI), ISD Scotland (last updated 31 March 2009)

Number of consultations

The chart below shows the estimated numbers of consultations in Scotland for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for the five financial years 2003/04 to 2007/08, by staff discipline. The estimated number of contacts with GPs decreased markedly over the five years of recording, whereas the number of contacts with practice nurses has increased over the same time period (although in recent years only by a small amount) resulting in a fairly stable number of combined GP and practice nurse contacts. The large contribution of practice nurses reflects the fact that routine monitoring of many chronic conditions is increasingly carried out by nurses.

All estimates are standardised by age, gender and deprivation to account for any differences in these characteristics between the PTI sample population and the Scottish practice population. These figures plus additional detail are also provided in tabular format in an Excel document   (21KB).

COPD¹ - estimated number of consultations in Scotland in the financial years 2003/04 to 2007/08 ^{2, 3} 
by staff discipline

* Health visitor and district nurse data are not available from the financial year 2006/07 onwards.
¹ Based on ISD's Read Code Grouping (RCG) 'COPD'.
² Based on 59, 53, 51, 49 and 47 PTI practices that submitted complete data for the years ending 31 March 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively. Figures are standardised by age, gender and deprivation.
³ Population source: Community Health Index (CHI) record, as at 30 September 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Note: Due to improvements made to the statistical model used to calculate PTI estimates for all years and the larger number of practices now included in the PTI sample for the years 2003/04 to 2005/06, figures shown here are not strictly comparable to these provided prior to 31 March 2009.  See the Note of Revisions for further information.

Source: Practice Team Information  (PTI), ISD Scotland (last updated 31 March 2009)