title: [Study on the prevalence rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in northern part of Guangdong province].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its risk factors in population over 40 years old in northern part of Guangdong province.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using uniform scheme, procedures and questionnaire, a cluster-randomized-sampling survey for the population aged over 40 years in a rural area of Shaoguan in the northern part of Guangdong province was performed. Spirometry was performed for every participant, followed by a bronchodilatation test when bronchial obstruction was present.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 1468 cases with complete data from 1498 people aged >or= 40 years including 640 males, 828 females with an average age of 54.3 years old. The total prevalence of COPD was 12.0%. The prevalence of COPD in males was significantly higher than that in females (18.3% vs. 7.1%, P < 0.01). Only 80.7% of the patients with COPD presented one or more symptoms as cough, phlegm, or dyspnoea. Underdiagnosis of COPD would be quite serious. Only 26.1% of the cases was previously diagnosed to have chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or COPD. Smoking was an important risk factor to COPD and 78.4% of the patients with COPD were smokers. However, relation of biomass and COPD called for further investigation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prevalence of COPD was much higher than expected in the northern part of Guangdong while smoking was an most important risk factor of COPD. Lung function test seemed to be of great importance to COPD diagnosis, especially in the earlier period of COPD.
authors.affiliation: The First Municipal Hospital of Shaoguan, Guangdong Provice, Shaoguan 512000, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yu-min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xiang-yi
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Sheng-ming
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Jun-fen
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Jin-ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Jia-chun
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lü
authors.forename: Nan-shan
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Pi-xin
authors.initials: PX
authors.lastname: Ran
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires