OBJECTIVES: For COPD patients, Hospital admissions (HA) and Emergency Room Visits (EV) represent the highest burden, from a clinical and economic perspective. Limited information is available in Brazil. The aim of this study was to describe the COPD patients healthcare resource use in the Brazilian private healthcare system. METHODS: a retrospective cohort was identified using data from Orizon, a Brazilian administrative claims database for the private healthcare system. Patients 40 years or older, with a COPD claim (ICD-10 code J40-J44) between January 1^st 2010 and December 31^st 2013, were followed until December 31^st 2014, death or insurance inactivation, whichever occurred first. COPD severe exacerbations were defined as EV or HA using the following ICD-10 codes: J00-J06, J09-J11, J12-J18, J20-J22, J40-J47, J80, J96. Only patients with ≥1 year of follow-up were included, and results were reported for the first year of follow up. RESULTS: 6,726 patients with mean age 58.8± 13.4 years were evaluated. On average, 39.7% of patients had at least one EV (12.8% had ≥2 and 4.6% had 3 or more) and 15.7% had at least one HA (3.5% had ≥2 and 0.9% had ≥3) due to COPD. Among those patients hospitalized, 40.2% required Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The mean hospitalization length of stay was 19.3±102.8 (mean±SD) days. For HA that required an ICU admission, the mean length of stay was four times higher [38.0±158.9 days (with 11.6±31.6 days only in ICU)] than the mean HA without ICU admission (8.7±44.34 days). CONCLUSIONS: Almost half of the patients with COPD suffer a severe exacerbation episode per year. These events have a substantial impact for patients and the healthcare system, particularly for those with extended length of stays in hospital and ICU. Funding: GSK (HO-15-16480).