Risk of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Hospitalizations after Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Hospitalization among Older Adults.

Rationale: Meta-analyses have suggested the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events is significantly higher after a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation. However, many of these studies have included a broad array of CVD events or have been limited to highly selected patient populations potentially not generalizable to the broader population of COPD. Objectives and Methods: We assessed the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) hospitalizations after COPD hospitalization compared with before COPD hospitalization and identified patient factors associated with ASCVD hospitalizations after COPD hospitalization. This retrospective cohort study used claims data from 920,550 Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for COPD from 2016 to 2019 in the United States. The primary outcome was risk of an ASCVD hospitalization composite outcome (myocardial infarction, percutaneous coronary intervention, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, stroke, or transient ischemic attack) in the 30 days and 1 year after COPD hospitalization relative to the same time period before COPD hospitalization. Time in the before and after COPD hospitalization time periods to a composite ASCVD hospitalization outcome were modeled using an extension of the Cox proportional hazards model, the Anderson-Gill model, with adjustment for patient characteristics. Additional analyses evaluated for interactions in subgroups associated with the composite ASCVD hospitalization outcome. Results: Among 920,550 patients in the 30-day and 1-year cohorts (mean age, 73-74 yr) the hazard ratio estimate (95% confidence interval) for the composite ASCVD hospitalization outcome after COPD hospitalization versus before COPD hospitalization for the 30-day cohort was 0.99 (0.93, 1.05; P  = 0.67), and for the 1-year cohort, it was 0.99 (0.97, 1.02; P  = 0.53) after adjustment. We observed three subgroups that were significantly associated with higher risk for ASCVD hospitalizations 1 year after COPD hospitalization: 76+ years old, women, and COPD hospitalization severity. Conclusions: Among Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for COPD, the risk of ASCVD hospitalization was not significantly increased 30 days or 1 year after COPD hospitalization relative to before COPD hospitalization. In subgroup analyses, we identified age 76+ years old, female sex, and COPD hospitalization severity as high-risk subgroups with increased risk of ASCVD events 1 year after COPD hospitalization. Further research is needed to characterize the COPD exacerbation populations at highest ASCVD hospitalization risk.