Effect of a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Intervention on COPD Awareness in a Regional City in Japan

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an intervention for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on COPD awareness in a regional city in Japan. Methods Self-administered questionnaires were completed by the residents of the city of Matsuura, Japan. Residents (! 50 years) of the mainland in Matsuura were included in a COPD intervention project (mainland group), while residents of the islands district received no intervention due to geographical issues (island group). The rates of COPD awareness and accuracy of responses to the questions about COPD were compared between the two groups. Materials The study included 5,891 residents 40 to 74 years of age of Matsuura in 2013. The mainland group comprised 4,419 subjects, and the island group 1,472 included subjects. Results The overall response rate to the questionnaire was 24.6%, with similar response rates between the two groups. The rate of COPD awareness in the mainland group was 24.5%, which was significantly higher than that observed in the island group (11.8%) (p<0.01). The rate of awareness tended to decrease in association with increasing age. Among 276 responders who stated they were aware of COPD, the accuracy rate for responses to the questions about COPD was not significantly different between the groups. Conclusion In the present study, there was a difference in COPD awareness between the two groups, suggesting that COPD interventions may increase awareness of the disease. However, the level of knowledge regarding COPD remained low and modifications to the intervention are required to improve awareness of the condition, especially among elderly subjects.

Global burden of COPD

“…The key issue here is that these patients would not go for a doctor evaluation if they do not know about the symptoms or warning signs. Importantly, this can be improved by interventions, since the awareness of the population is key for them to attend to their primary care or outpatient clinic facilities for a clinical and functional evaluation.…”

Awareness about disease and pulmonary rehabilitation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A survey study

“…The query "is COPD a treatable disease" yielded 40% true response rate in our study. Yıldız et al [8] noted 25.2% correct answers in this query, while Masaharu et al [10] found an 85.8% correct answer rate. Similar to our results, Rashka et al [3] reported a 51.1% correct answer rate to the same query.…”

“…The lower rates of Yıldız et al [8] might be attributed to the fact that the questionnaire was applied to a heterogeneous sample of the general population, not only to patients with COPD. The higher correct answer rates of Masahura et al [10] may be due to the mean patient education duration of six years.…”

“…In a Japanese study by Masaharu et al [10] about the awareness of COPD and impact of COPD educations on the awareness, 87% of the participants responded to the question "coughing, sputum, and shortness of breath are symptoms of early stage COPD or not" with the correct answer. Our lower rates may be secondary to questioning types.…”

Occupational Health Surveillance: Pulmonary Function Test in Proppant Exposures

“…The logistic regression analysis demonstrated that those aged 39 years or older had 3 times greater risk in developing obstructive type of lung impairment (FEV1/FVC ratio >0.8). Previous studies have also established that lung function tests decrease in older populations [28]- [31]. The results showed that older workers have higher propensity to have lower lung function values than the general population.…”