Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is underdiagnosed and undertreated in São Paulo (Brazil): results of the PLATINO study
Braz. j. med. biol. res
;
40(7): 887-895, July 2007. tab
Article
in English
| LILACS
| ID: lil-455995
ABSTRACT
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common disease in adults over 40 years of age and has a great social and economic impact. It remains little recognized and undertreated even in developed countries. However, there are no data about its diagnosis and treatment in Brazil. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the proportion of COPD patients who had never been diagnosed and to determine if the COPD patients who had been identified were receiving appropriate treatment. The Latin American Project for the Investigation of Obstructive Lung Disease (PLATINO) was a randomized epidemiological study of adults over 40 years living in five metropolitan areas, including São Paulo. The studied sample was randomly selected from the population after a division of the metropolitan area of São Paulo in clusters according to social characteristics. All subjects answered a standardized questionnaire on respiratory symptoms, history of smoking, previous diagnosis of lung disease, and treatments. All subjects performed spirometry. The criterion for the diagnosis of COPD was defined by a post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio lower than 0.7. A total of 918 subjects were evaluated and 144 (15.8 percent) met the diagnostic criterion for COPD. However, 126 individuals (87.5 percent) had never been diagnosed. This undiagnosed group of COPD patients had a lower proportion of subjects with respiratory symptoms than the previously diagnosed patients (88.9 vs 54.8 percent) and showed better lung function with greater FEV1 (86.8 ± 20.8 vs 68.5 ± 23.6 percent predicted) and FVC (106.6 ± 22.4 vs 92.0 ± 24.1 percent predicted). Among the COPD patients, only 57.3 percent were advised to stop smoking and 30.6 percent received the influenza vaccine. In addition, 82.3 percent did not receive any pharmacological treatment. In conclusion, COPD is underdiagnosed and a large number of COPD patients are not treated appropriately.
Full text:
Available
Index:
LILACS (Americas)
Main subject:
Health Surveys
/
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
Type of study:
Controlled clinical trial
/
Etiology study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Risk factors
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
Braz. j. med. biol. res
Journal subject:
Biology
/
Medicine
Year:
2007
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Brazil
/
Mexico
Institution/Affiliation country:
National Institute of Respiratory Diseases/MX
/
Universidade Católica de Salvador/BR
/
Universidade Federal da Bahia/BR
/
Universidade Federal de Pelotas/BR
/
Universidade Federal de São Paulo/BR
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