title: Respiratory symptoms among elderly people in the New Forest area as assessed by postal questionnaire.
abstract: This study was carried out to estimate the prevalence of respiratory symptoms among people aged 65 years and older and assess the value of a postal survey in obtaining this information. A questionnaire was sent to 2011 subjects (957 men) drawn by age-stratified random sampling from the age-sex registers of four New Forest group practices (1:3.3 sample). A total of 1803 replied, a 96.2% response after excluding 136 who had died or moved from the area. The accuracy of replies was verified for 355 (20%) randomly selected subjects. Forty per cent had no respiratory symptoms. Exertional breathlessness was common (38%), increasing in prevalence with age but not with smoking history, and was the only symptom reported by 10% of subjects. Only 14.2% were current smokers; more of the subjects aged 85 years and over were lifelong non-smokers. Two hundred and ninety-six (16.4%) had chronic bronchitis, which was more common among smokers; 151 (8.4%) gave a history of asthma, of whom half (76) had active asthma, which was slightly less common among the very elderly subjects. Only 489 (27.1%) of subjects had seen their doctors with chest symptoms during the preceding 2 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric, Lymington Infirmary, Hampshire.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Horsley
authors.forename: I J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Sterling
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Waters
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Howell
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012119:Respiration / Q000502:physiology; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires