Risk factors and intervention for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in China

In China, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common chronic diseases with a prevalence of 8.2% in the population over 40 years of age. In 2006, it was the third most common cause of death in China accounting for 17.6% of all deaths. Although worldwide smoking is the most common risk factor for COPD, in China, additional important risk factors include environmental tobacco smoke, biomass smoke and post-pulmonary tuberculosis. Interventions based on mitigating these risk factors have a particularly important role in strategies aimed at preventing COPD in China. Indeed, preliminary research findings have shown that early intervention based on minimizing these risk factors might be a cost-effective way to prevent COPD in China. Future research should focus on large scale, randomized and controlled prospective studies to address the efficacy, feasibility and health economics of minimizing these important risk factors in China.