From: COPD exacerbations in general practice: variability in oral prednisolone courses
 | Case 1 | Case 2 | Case 3 | Case 4 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | GOLD 1,2 no severe exacerbation | GOLD 1,2 no severe exacerbation | GOLD 3,4 severe exacerbation | GOLD 3,4 severe exacerbation | ||||
 | DM- [CI] | DM+ [CI] | DM- [CI] | DM+ [CI] | DM- [CI] | DM+ [CI] | DM- [CI] | DM+ [CI] |
Choice of treatment | N = 165 | N = 161 | N = 164 | N = 159 | N = 166 | N = 158 | N = 158 | N = 156 |
1-Specialist treatment | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 10% [0.057-0.154] | 16% [0.104-0.223] | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 61% [0.527-0.684] | 72% [0.640-0.787] |
2- No treatment | 2% [0.004-0.052] | 5% [0.022-0.096] | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 1% [0.002-0.045] | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 0% [0.000-0.000] |
3- Primary care treatment | 98% [0.948-0.996] | 95% [0.904-0.978] | 90% [0.846-0.943] | 84% [0.777-0.896] | 100% [0.967-1.000] | 99% [0.955-0.998] | 39% [0.316-0.473] | 28% [0.213-0.360] |
Type of regimen | N = 162 | N = 157 | N = 147 | N = 134 | N = 166 | N = 157 | N = 62 | N = 43 |
A)Tapering regimen | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 3% [0.010-0.073] | 1% [0.000-0.037] | 3% [0.008-0.075] | 2% [0.004-0.052] | 6% [0.027-0.106] | 6% [0.018-0.157] | 9% [0.026-0.221] |
B) Continuous regimen | 100% [0.966-1.000] | 97% [0.927-0.990] | 99% [0.963-1.000] | 97% [0.925-0.992] | 98% [0.948-0.996] | 94% [0.894-0.973] | 94% [0.843-0.982] | 91% [0.779-0.974] |
Continuous regimen | N = 161 | N = 149 | N = 143 | N = 128 | N = 160 | N = 141 | N = 57 | N = 38 |
   30mg for 5 days | 13% [0.083-0.192] | 17% [0.112-0.238] | 5% [0.020-0.098] | 6% [0.027-0.119] | 8% [0.044-0.135] | 9% [0.050-0.153] | 2% [0.000-0.094] | 5% [0.006-0.177] |
   30mg for 7 days | 64% [0.560-0.714] | 57% [0.487-0.651] | 57% [0.488-0.656] | 61% [0.519-0.694] | 58% [0.501-0.659] | 59% [0.503-0.671] | 44% [0.307-0.576] | 42% [0.263-0.592] |
   30mg for 10 days | 8% [0.044-0.134] | 6% [0.028-0.112] | 22% [0.152-0.293] | 20% [0.137-0.283] | 22% [0.157-0.291] | 20% [0.136-0.274] | 42% [0.291-0.559] | 40% [0.240-0.566] |
   30mg for 14 days | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 0% [0.000-0.000] | 4% [0.016-0.089] | 1% [0.000-0.043] | 4% [0.014-0.080] | 1% [0.000-0.039] | 5% [0.011-0.146] | 5% [0.006-0.177] |