COPD prevalence and its association with occupational exposures in a general population

The aim of this study was to ascertain the population prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in an area with past heavy industry and to establish the relative contributions of occupational and other risk factors. We investigated respiratory symptoms and the prevalence of spirometrically-defined COPD in a population-based study in North-East England (UK) between 2002 and 2004. Questionnaires were posted to 6,000 males and 6,000 females, 45-69 yrs of age, who were randomly selected from a primary care database (response rate 64%, n=7,566). Spirometric measurements were performed on 845 randomly selected responders. We defined COPD by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) II criteria. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms was 55%. Symptoms were strongly associated with smoking, occupational exposures and hay fever. COPD was present in 10% of subjects. Its presence was significantly associated with occupational exposures, smoking and hay fever. COPD is common in North-East England. Respiratory effects of occupational exposures can be detected within the general population: there were clear associations between occupational exposures and respiratory symptoms. The association with COPD was more marked in females.