title: Chronic bronchitis in the general population: influence of age, gender and socio-economic conditions.
abstract: Chronic bronchitis (CB) is an indicator of an increased risk of developing COPD, but its symptoms are often underestimated. Demographic and socio-economic conditions might influence its prevalence, reporting and impact. Data from a large epidemiological survey of the French general population were analyzed to determine the burden of CB, the magnitude of under-diagnosis and the influence of age, gender and socio-economic conditions. Altogether, 9050 participants aged 45 years or more provided complete data. The prevalence of symptoms and diagnosis of CB was 3.5% and 3.4%, respectively. CB was associated with impaired health status and activity and, in women, work loss. Among subjects with symptoms of CB, only 28.6% declared a known diagnosis of respiratory disease. Factors associated with symptoms of CB in multivariate analysis were male gender, active smoking, lower income and occupational category: the highest prevalence was observed in manual workers (5.6%) and self-employed subjects (5.2%). The under-diagnosis of CB was more marked in men and subjects of higher socio-economic categories. These results confirm that CB is markedly under-diagnosed in the general population. Socio-economic conditions influence both its prevalence (higher in low categories) and rate of diagnosis (lower in high categories), which should be considered when elaborating prevention and detection campaigns.
authors.affiliation: Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu, AP-HP, University of Paris Descartes, France.
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferré
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fuhrman
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zureik
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chouaid
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vergnenègre
authors.forename: Gérard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huchon
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Delmas
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Roche
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D029481:Bronchitis, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors