Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common lung disease. There is a limited amount of nationwide data on COPD patients in Poland. This study aimed to characterize patients hospitalized with COPD in Poland in 2019 as well as to identify factors associated with the risk of in-hospital death and prolonged hospitalization among patients with COPD. This study is a retrospective database analysis. Data on patients hospitalized with COPD in Poland were obtained from the Nationwide General Hospital Morbidity Dataset. Data on all adults aged ≥40 years with a diagnosis of COPD from a physician (J44 code) were included in the analysis. Data were analyzed separately for patients hospitalized due to COPD (primary diagnosis) and patients with COPD as a comorbidity (secondary diagnosis). Completed medical records were available for 101,471 patients hospitalized with COPD (36.9% were females). Of those, 32% were hospitalized due to COPD. The mean age was 71.4 ± 9.7 years. The mean duration of hospitalization was 9.4 ± 11.4 days (median 7 days). Most of the COPD patients (89.3%) had at least one comorbidity. The in-hospital mortality rate was 6.8%. Older age, presence of cardiovascular diseases, and diseases of the genitourinary system (p < 0.05) were the most important factors associated with the risk of in-hospital death among patients hospitalized due to COPD.

This paper aims to present an assessment of the hourly structure of the thermal environment in the warm period of the year. Special attention was paid to the conditions potentially resulting in heat stress for citizens of Kraków’s central district. Two approaches were used to analyse the hourly data: 1) a criterion of thermal threshold >30°C, as potentially generating heat stress, which is included in meteorological warnings issued in Poland, and 2) a criterion based on physiological responses described by the value of the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) >32°C, which corresponds to conditions of strong heat stress for the human thermoregulatory system. The data of basic meteorological characteristics of one-hour timespan resolution from measurements in AGH station located at Reymonta Street in Kraków covering the period 2012–2022 were adopted in the study. Shortwave direct and diffuse and longwave radiation fluxes corresponding to the station's location grid were derived from the Eumetsat LSA SAF MSG satellite remote-sensing system and used for Mean Radiant Temperature (Tmrt) and UTCI hourly calculations. Thermal environment conditions expressed by Tair ≥30°C, which could lead to heat stress, occurred in less than 2% of hourly terms (931 from 47,044) in the months April–September in the 11-year period. Far more terms were assessed as “with adverse conditions leading to heat stress”: 2,215 cases when UTCI≥32°C. In view of the above, it is worth highlighting that more than half of the negative and oppressive weather conditions resulting in heat stress may be neglected in risk assessments and predictions using only the basic thermal criterion. This paper aims to present an assessment of the hourly structure of the thermal environment in the warm period of the year. Special attention was paid to the conditions potentially resulting in heat stress for citizens of Kraków’s central district. Two approaches were used to analyse the hourly data: 1) a criterion of thermal threshold >30°C, as potentially generating heat stress, which is included in meteorological warnings issued in Poland, and 2) a criterion based on physiological responses described by the value of the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) >32°C, which corresponds to conditions of strong heat stress for the human thermoregulatory system. The data of basic meteorological characteristics of one-hour timespan resolution from measurements in AGH station located at Reymonta Street in Kraków covering the period 2012–2022 were adopted in the study. Shortwave direct and diffuse and longwave radiation fluxes corresponding to the station's location grid were derived from the Eumetsat LSA SAF MSG satellite remote-sensing system and used for Mean Radiant Temperature (Tmrt) and UTCI hourly calculations. Thermal environment conditions expressed by Tair ≥30°C, which could lead to heat stress, occurred in less than 2% of hourly terms (931 from 47,044) in the months April–September in the 11-year period. Far more terms were assessed as “with adverse conditions leading to heat stress”: 2,215 cases when UTCI≥32°C. In view of the above, it is worth highlighting that more than half of the negative and oppressive weather conditions resulting in heat stress may be neglected in risk assessments and predictions using only the basic thermal criterion.