Female-specific risk factors associated with risk of ACO (asthma COPD overlap) in aboriginal people

Objective: Sex differences in incidence, susceptibility and severity of many chronic respiratory diseases have been long recognized. Asthma-COPD Overlap (ACO) is newly recognized disease with its management guidelines reported in 2015. The objective of this analysis is to identify the female-specific risk factors associated with ACO in Aboriginal people.Methods: The Aboriginal Peoples Survey 2012 (N = 28,410) is the fourth cycle of a national cross-sectional survey representative of the First Nations living off reserve, Metis and Inuit. The 2012 APS collected information on employment, education, health status, housing, family background and income. Survey Logistic Regression was used to identify the significant risk factors for ACO in the multivariate analysis.Results: The prevalence of ACO was 1.65% and 3.53% in males and females, respectively. The following factors were significantly associated with increased risk of ACO in both males and females: increased age, living in Quebec, living in a rented dwelling and dwelling in need of major repairs. However, four factors including marital status (being widowed, separated, or divorced), smoking status (being a current daily smoker), having a diagnosis of diabetes and working 40 h and over a week were significantly associated with increased risk of ACO in females not males.Conclusion:The results of our study may offer useful evidence for future development of female-specific prevention and public health intervention programs in aboriginal communities to reduce the burden of ACO.