Prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among those with serious mental illness.
OBJECTIVE
Individuals with serious mental illness have elevated smoking rates, and smoking is a significant risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The goal was to determine the prevalence of COPD among those with serious mental illness.


METHODS
The authors surveyed a random sample of 200 adults with serious mental illness with questions from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study III that were previously used to estimate the national prevalence of COPD. They compared the prevalence of COPD in the sample to a randomly selected matched subset of national comparison subjects.


RESULTS
The prevalence of COPD was 22.6%. Those with serious mental illness were significantly more likely to have chronic bronchitis (19.5% versus 6.1%) and emphysema (7.9% versus 1.5%) than the comparison subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of COPD is significantly higher among those with serious mental illness than comparison subjects. Improved primary and secondary prevention is warranted.
Himelhoch
Seth
S
Department of Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health Services Research, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 685 West Baltimore St., MSTF Building, Suite 300, Baltimore, MD 21201-1549, USA. shimelho@psych.umaryland.edu
Lehman
Anthony
A
Kreyenbuhl
Julie
J
Daumit
Gail
G
Brown
Clayton
C
Dixon
Lisa
L
D000328:Adult; D015142:Baltimore / Q000453:epidemiology; D029481:Bronchitis, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011656:Pulmonary Emphysema / Q000453:epidemiology; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology