ArticleRespiratory medicine2020
Significant reduction in hospital admissions for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Hong Kong during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
Article in Respiratory medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
62 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 95 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- The impact of facemask on patients with COPD: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Reduction in hospitalised COPD exacerbations during COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Management of COPD and comorbidities in COPD patients by dispensing pharmaceutical care following Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease-guidelines (GOLD guidelines 2020): a prospective randomized clinical trial.BMC health services research · 2026Trial
- Changes in Physical Activity and Psychological Status in Patients with COPD Between Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Assessments: A Pilot Observational Longitudinal Cohort Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Nationwide trends in AECOPD care in Italy before, during and after COVID-19: discrepancies between data sources and across regions.BMJ open respiratory research · 2026Article
- The contributions of active and passive smoking to COPD-related mortality and DALYs in the context of COVID-19: Global Burden 2019-2021.Tobacco induced diseases · 2026Article
- Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on outcomes of COPD patients in Turkey: lessons for the future.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2025Article
- Changes in the incidence, viral coinfection pattern and outcomes of pneumococcal hospitalizations during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Pneumonia (Nathan Qld.) · 2025Article
- Pain and Dyspnea During Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Documentation Audit 2019-2020.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- 4D-CT strain analysis for biomechanical characterization of COPD in patients undergoing radiotherapy planning: an exploratory study.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- COPD Exacerbations, Air Pollutant Fluctuations, and Individual-Level Factors in the Pandemic Era.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2025Article
- Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2025Article
- Effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on hospitalizations for non-Covid-19-pneumonia and exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases in Switzerland: comparison of national data between 2020/2021 and 2015-2019.Pneumonia (Nathan Qld.) · 2024Article
- Triple Therapy in COPD in Real Life: Is It Better to Use Single or Multiple Inhalers?Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on hospital admissions for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a nationwide population-based study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2024Article
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and the Omicron Variant of COVID-19 Prognosis: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Cureus · 2024Article
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Mortality and Hospitalization during the COVID-19 Pandemic Compared with before the Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of personalized medicine · 2024Review
- Assessing the impact of diverse mask types on COPD patients: a randomised controlled trial study protocol.BMJ open · 2024Article
- COPD Exacerbations Before and During COVID-19 in France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2024Article
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChronic respiratory diseases are risk factors for severe disease in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Respiratory tract infection is one of the commonest causes of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). There has not been evidence suggesting the link between COVID-19 and AECOPD, especially in places with dramatic responses in infection control with universal masking and aggressive social distancing.
methodsThis is a retrospective study to assess the number of admissions of AECOPD in the first three months of 2020 in Queen Mary Hospital with reference to the admissions in past five years. Log-linear model was used for statistical inference of covariates, including percentage of masking, air quality health index and air temperature.
resultsThe number of admissions for AECOPD significantly decreased by 44.0% (95% CI 36.4%-52.8%, p < 0.001) in the first three months of 2020 compared with the monthly average admission in 2015-2019. Compare to same period of previous years, AECOPD decreased by 1.0% with each percent of increased masking (p < 0.001) and decreased by 3.0% with increase in 1 °C in temperature (p = 0.045). The numbers of admissions for control diagnoses (heart failure, intestinal obstruction and iron deficiency anaemia) in the same period in 2020 were not reduced.
conclusionsThe number of admissions for AECOPD decreased in first three months of 2020, compared with previous years. This was observed with increased masking percentage and social distancing in Hong Kong. We postulated universal masking and social distancing during COVID-19 pandemics both contributed in preventing respiratory tract infections hence AECOPD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.