Prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in an Urban Area. Changes in COPD Ten Years on

The prevalence of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Spain has been evaluated in the last ten years by EPISCAN in 2007 and EPISCAN II in 2017. This study describes changes in the prevalence of COPD in an urban region of Spain in the last 10 years, its risk factors and underdiagnosis.

Participants from the Autonomous Community of Madrid (Spain) were selected from both studies up to the age of 80 years. A descriptive analysis of their sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, as well as by gender, was conducted. COPD was defined by a post-bronchodilator ratio <0.70.

The prevalence of COPD in the Autonomous Community of Madrid increased non-significantly from 11.0% (95% CI: 8.9-13.5%) to 12.1% (95% CI: 9.6-15.1, p=0.612). However, the prevalence by gender showed an increase in women (5.6% to 14.7%, p<0.001) and a decrease in men (17.6% to 9.8%, p=0.08). Underdiagnosis was reduced from 81.0% to 67.9% (p=0.006), although with greater underdiagnosis in women (86.4% in EPISCAN and 100% in EPISCAN II). Smoking was higher in men than in women in EPISCAN (31.2% vs 23.0%, p<0.01) but with no differences by gender in EPISCAN II (25.5% men vs 26.0% women, p=0.146). Age, smoking, low BMI, and a sedentary lifestyle were consistently associated with COPD.

In 10 years in Madrid, there have been no changes in the global prevalence of COPD, but there have been important changes in women, with an increase in its prevalence, smoking habit and underdiagnosis.