Prevalencia de la enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica en población general de 65 y más

Abstract

Study objetives: To determine the EPOC prevalence in Cambre, (Town of Coruña), given that there are few Spanish representative surveys that include this province. To study the EPOC prevalence in order to compare it among different countries and regions, due to the great morbimortality prevalence, to the high variation range among them, and due to the infradiagnosis and overdiagnosis which may occur because of a lack of functional test, (spirometry), which is a key tool to confirm or to rule out an EPOC diagnosis. To describe the low conformity between the medical record registry and the spirometry result, as well as the connection between the quality of life and health, and the EPOC. Methods: On a tansverse and stratified random sample of a 883 population of 65 years old and over, sociodemographic / clinical information was gathered, and a functional test (spirometry) was included and heath-life questionnaire (SF-36). This project has been carried out upon approval of Clinical Research Ethics committee of Galicia. The informed consent has been required by the patients. Results: The EPOC prevalence was a 14.2%, higher in men (11.7%), and it was age-related (18.2% in age group of 70-74 years old) and associated with tobacco use (40% in smokers). The previous diagnosis of EPOC was confirmed by Spirometry in 47.5% of the cases and more than half of the patients (52.5%) who shown that they had EPOC were ruled out by Spirometry. There is a low agreement between medical record registry and the spirometry result. The age, sex (Male), the smoking habit, shortness of breath, chronic cough and sputum are significantly associated to the EPOC presence. No significant differences were shown between the quality of life related to health and the presence or not of EPOC. CONCLUSIONS The EPOC prevalence is of 14.2%, more frequent in men than in women, it increases with age and the tobacco use and is measured by the index of packages/year.