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COPD Prevalence has Increased in Past Decade

COPD Doctor Pro2 LLC Buffalo NYCOPD has risen from the fourth leading cause of death to the third, after heart disease and cancer, and has gained in prevalence over the past decade, growing from 6 to 7 percent of adults ages 40 years and older, according to a new study.

The study, Continuing to Confront COPD International Patient Survey, was conducted by researchers at Abt SRBI and funded by healthcare and pharmaceutical firm GSK. The new research is an update of its Confronting COPD survey conducted 10 years ago, and tracks the growing problem of COPD in the United States.

Additional findings:
- Twenty-six percent of US participants reported visiting the emergency room as a result of their COPD, with an additional 17 percent hospitalized within the last year — that’s a statistic similar to that reported in Mexico, and higher rate than reported in most European countries surveyed.

- Many patients may be underestimating the severity of their symptoms. While more than half (54 percent) of U.S. participants reported clinically significant dyspnea (shortness of breath), the majority (70 percent) classified their COPD as only mild or moderate in severity. GSK said this points to “a disconnect” between the level of symptoms and their own subjective assessment of the disease.

- The number of U.S. women affected by COPD (7.1 percent), was notably higher than males (6.2 percent). As a result, physicians may want to consider additional evaluation when women present with respiratory symptoms, recurrent respiratory infections, or fatigue, to assess COPD and improve outcomes.

- The percentage of U.S. participants who were identified as having never smoked was 25 percent – giving researchers reason to explore additional risk factors, such as environmental or occupational exposures, and asthma, as well as consider whether symptomatic non-smoking patients need early screening and access to recommended disease management.

"Given GSK's 40-year heritage in the respiratory disease area, we were keen to follow up on our decade-old landmark study—the first COPD cross-national, population-based survey of its kind—with an update that helps provide insights as to how the disease and its management have evolved over time," said Kourtney Davis, Ph.D., MSPH, lead global epidemiologist at GSK, who worked on the survey. "From these findings we see that the face of COPD is changing. Traditionally, COPD was considered to be a disease of elderly male smokers, but now, more women than men report having COPD, and about a quarter of patients have never smoked."

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Kopf, David. (2014 November 13). COPD Prevalence Has Increased In Past Decade. Retrieved from http://hme-business.com/articles/2014/11/13/copd.aspx.

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