Hospitalisation and mortality in patients with comorbid COPD and heart failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Discrepancy exists amongst studies investigating the effect of comorbid heart failure (HF) on the morbidity and mortality of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients.

Methods: MEDLINE and Embase were searched using a pre-specified search strategy for studies comparing hospitalisation, rehospitalisation, and mortality of COPD patients with and without HF. Studies must have reported crude and/or adjusted rate ratios, risk ratios, odds ratios (OR), or hazard ratios (HR).