title: Follow-up evaluation of a prevalence study for chronic bronchitis and chronic airway obstruction.
abstract: Follow-up of the prevalence study of respiratory symptoms and chronic airway obstruction was performed after a 6- to 7-year interval. One hundred fifteen of 117 subjects (98%) originally labeled "abnormal" (chronic bronchitis or asthma by history, or ratio of 1-sec forced expiratory volume to forced vital capacity less than 60 per cent), and 111 of a random sample of 116 subjects (96%) originally labeled "normal" were traced. Nineteen patients were dead, 14 "abnormal" subjects, and 5 "normal" subjects (P less than 0.01). Eighty-eight of the originally labeled "abnormal" subjects and 91 of the random "normal" sample could be retested by spirometry. Subjects with lower initial ratios of 1-sec forced expiratory volume to forced vital capacity tended to lose more 1-sec forced expiratory volume and forced vital capacity. Early identification of respiratory symptoms and spirometric abnormalities may identify persons at increased risk of death who could benefit from appropriate therapy.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D001991:Bronchitis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D002000:Bronchospirometry; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003120:Colorado; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005540:Forced Expiratory Flow Rates; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012907:Smoking / Q000150:complications; D014797:Vital Capacity