Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors in Adults Aged 40 Years and Older in...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of many major public health problems in China, and its prevalence and associated risk factors in the southeast of China need to be determined to facilitate disease control and prevention.

A multistage stratified cluster sampling method was used to select 5486 participants aged ≥ 40 years from nine COPD monitoring districts in Fujian Province during 2019-2020. Participants were interviewed using a laptop-based questionnaire and underwent pulmonary function tests. COPD was diagnosed according to the 2019 Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria.

Final analysis was conducted using data from 4999 participants with qualified post-bronchodilator results. The prevalence of COPD was 11.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 10.5-12.7). Risk factors for COPD in the logistic regression model were being male (odds ratio [OR] = 2.83, 95% CI: 2.01-3.98), > 70 years old (OR = 16.16, 95% CI: 8.14-32.08), having a low body mass index (BMI) (OR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.13-2.89), parental history of respiratory disease (OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.50-2.10), being a current (OR = 2.82, 95% CI: 1.83-4.36) or former (OR = 2.47, 95% CI: 1.45-4.19) smoker, and indoor exposure to biomass (OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.05-1.58).

The estimated prevalence of COPD in southeast China is high. COPD was strongly associated with sex, aging, a low BMI, parental history of respiratory diseases, smoking, and indoor exposure to biomass in adults aged ≥ 40 years. The government should urgently implement comprehensive measures to reduce the risk factors for COPD.