Research suggests people with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) are being denied intensive care treatment because doctors are too pessimistic.
The study of 800 patients, published in the British Medical Journal, found clinicians underestimated their survival chances.
"It is sad to see evidence of such widespread pessimism about the survival prospects for people with COPD amongst clinicians,” says Dr Noemi Eiser, Medical Director of the British Lung Foundation.
"It's to be hoped that better awareness of the disease in the years since this study was carried out should have reduced such negativity, particularly when more effective non-invasive treatments are becoming more widely available.”
The study, which looked at 92 intensive care units across the UK, found that 62% of patients who received intensive treatment to help them breathe were alive 180 days later. In contrast doctors had predicted only 49% would survive for that long.
"This research also reminds us that around four in ten patients admitted to hospital for flare-ups of their COPD are dying within six months of discharge," says Dr Eiser.
COPD is responsible for around 30,000 deaths in the UK every year, with the disease claiming more lives than breast and prostate cancer combined in England and Wales.
For more information about COPD please click here.
For press enquiries, please contact Kerry Kalcher on 0207 688 5564.
