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Prevalence and health status of COPD in rural West Bengal
Rupak Kumar Ghosh1, Dipanjan Saha1, Madan Sarma1
1Department of Airway Diseases, Institute of Pulmocare and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Background:
Understanding the spirometry-based prevalence with concomitant assessment of the health status is important to appreciate the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-scenario in a geographic area. There is hardly any such rural data available from the developing world.
Methods:
We screened the adult population (>40 but <75 years) of seven villages in two different blocks of Birbhum district, West Bengal, for the presence respiratory symptoms (active or historical within 1 year). Those screened positive were tested with spirometry to diagnose COPD on having post bronchodilator FEV1/FVC <0.7. The COPD subjects were then applied with COPD assessment test (CAT).
Results:
Out of 6255 subjects residing in the villages, 1984 subjects belonged to the target age group and 51.56% (1013 of 1984) of them qualified for spirometry which was possible in 953 (88.81%) of them. COPD was identified in 166 (16.36%) of symptomatic individuals. The calculated prevalence of COPD was 2.65% in overall population and 8.367% in population above 40 years. The COPD patients (mean age 59.77 ± 9.47 years) had a male preponderance (120 [72.29%] of 166). They were mostly malnourished (body mass index = 17.15 ± 2.97), with poorhealth status (CAT = 15) and moderate degree (GOLD category-II) of airflow limitation showing FEV1/FVC as 0.60 ± 0.07 and the mean post bronchodilator FEV1 as 52% of predicted (1.26 ± 0.42 L). Most of the sufferers (74.09%) were either active (n = 88) or ex-smokers (n = 35) (>10 pack-years). The nonsmokers constituted 25, 90% (n = 43).
Conclusion:
The rural COPD prevalence in Bengal is far higher than the estimated national average with the health status of the sufferers been poor.
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