Over 100 Million Affected with COPD in China

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a serious lung disease affects the air passage and causes difficulty in breathing . The prevalence of COPD is higher among Chinese adult population.

Over 100 million adults were affected with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in China and is a leading cause of death, according to a new study by Tulane University published in The Lancet.

The study, which provided //lung-function screenings for more than 50,990 participants, is the largest survey of COPD across age groups ever conducted in China, said a team of researchers.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
COPD includes respiratory tract disorders that cause obstruction to airflow. These are chronic bronchitis, emphysema and small airway disease.

‘Exposure to air pollution increases the risk of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among Chinese adult population.’

COPD, an inflammatory lung disease that causes obstructed airflow into the lungs, is the third leading cause of death in China. It is caused by long-term exposure to irritants in the air, including cigarette smoke. During the past decade, ambient air pollution has become a major public-health crisis in the country while cigarette smoking remains high, especially among men, says, senior author, Dr. Jiang He, Joseph S. Copes Chair of Epidemiology at Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine.

"Our research shows that COPD is highly prevalent in the Chinese adult population. The biggest preventable risk factors for the disease are cigarette smoking and air pollution," He says. "Prevention programs and increased efforts to catch COPD early should be public-health priorities in China to reduce COPD-related diseases and deaths."

The study found that men had a higher prevalence (11.9 percent) of COPD than women (5.4 percent). The sex difference was noted among all age groups in the general population and even among those who never smoked.

Triple Inhaler Reduces Lung Disease Severity Chances by 20%
A triple therapy inhaler helps reduce infection and the chances of hospitalization in patients with a group of lung diseases.

Based on the lung-function screenings, researchers estimated the total number of individuals aged 20 years or older with COPD in China was 99.9 million in 2015. Of these, 68.4 million were men, and 31.5 million were women.

A team of researchers found that most people with COPD were unaware of their condition, and few had received a pulmonary function test prior to the study. Only 2.6 percent of participants were aware of their condition, and only 12 percent of those found to have COPD reported getting a previous pulmonary function test.

Air Pollution - Pollutants - Health Effect - Efforts to Reduce
Nearly 2.4 million deaths every year are attributable to air pollution. Air pollutants may be solid particles, liquid droplets or gases. Proper planning methods should be adopted to reduce air pollution.

The research team found COPD prevalence increased with age. It was 2.1 percent for individuals aged 20-39 years old compared to 13.7 percent for those aged 40 years or older. The disease was more common for rural residents (9.6 percent) than for those in urban areas (7.4 percent). The same trend was noted among non-smokers.

The research team suspect that those who didn't smoke developed COPD due to other risk factors or environmental exposures such as air pollution, chronic cough during childhood, parental history of respiratory diseases, low body weight and low education.

Effective Pulmonary Rehabilitation in COPD
Pulmonary Rehabilitation is an individual, patient-centered therapy program based on a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation and consists of patient education/training, physical exercise, behavioral training.

The study calls for new national public health strategies to prevent COPD that include smoking cessation programs, stricter control of ambient air pollution and biomass use, and COPD screenings for high-risk individuals using pulmonary function tests.

Source-Eurekalert