Initial Study Of Prevention And Treatment Of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease In Community

Objective: The study was to improve the level of prevention and treatment of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) in community. We aimed to measure the prevalence of COPD and its risk factors, investigate the perception of patients with COPD and evaluate their health related quality of life(HRQL).Methods: Participants aged 40 years and older from 2 community in Zhapu Subdistrict Hongkou District Shanghai were recruited to complete spirometry testing plus questionnaires about respiratory symptoms, health status, and exposure to COPD risk factors.A questionnaire survey was conducted among COPD patients to evaluate their perceptions of COPD severity, attitudes to COPD, and knowledge about COPD diagnosis and treatment. HRQL was assessed with the SF-36 scale.Results: The prevalence of COPD was 11.02% overall. The prevalence of COPD in male was significantly higher than that in female( 14.51% vs7.84%,p< 0.01)and it was increasing with the ageing. A statistically significant correlation was found between age, gender, education level, childhood respiratory disease history, smoke history, and COPD. The prevalence in high risk group was significantly higher than that in non-high risk group,p<0.01. Among the patients who had COPD, only 19.60% reported lifetime diagnosis of bronchitis, or bronchial asthma; 35.29% were asymptomatic; and only 3.92% have been tested with spirometry. 108 COPD patients aged 76.93±9.02 were recruited. They were generally uninformed about COPD, including diagnosis, the risk factors, acute exacerbation and treatments, over half of whom were totally unaware of any COPD knowledge. It was a heavy burden of COPD, as in 1 year the patients got acute exacerbations mean 3. 00±2.68, and 75.93% of them were hospitalized more than once. Their SF-36 scores were low especially for role functioning(RF),general health(GH),and vitality(VT) (22.45±41.15,34.07±19.31 and 38.28±19.28), which indicated COPD patients were generally impaired in HRQL.Conclusion: The prevalence of COPD in individuals 40 years of age or older was high in community. The patients got a poor perception of COPD and HRQL .Efforts should be made to increase public awareness and improve the prevention and treatment of COPD in community.