More than 13 million people in the Middle East and Africa suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its prevalence in Pakistan is as high as 2.1 percent in population aged 40 years and above, an eminent researcher said on Thursday.
Chairman of the Medicine Department at Aga Khan University (AKU) Hospital Dr Javaid A Khan said that an observational cross-sectional epidemiology study in COPD, sponsored by GSK, was conducted in 11 countries (Pakistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and the UAE) in the Middle East and Africa region with more than 60,000 subjects aged 40 years or older to estimate the prevalence of COPD symptoms within the general population.
The study, he said, showed that Pakistan had 6/7 million people who suffered from COPD symptoms. Dr Javaid A Khan is also a member BREATHE Study Steering Committee. He said the prevalence estimate "is the tipof the iceberg given that other risk factors such as water-pipe smoking or exposure to burning biomass fuels were not considered in the calculations".
COPD is a general name given to a number of conditions, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. COPD causes airways in the lungs to become narrower, making it more difficult for air to move in and out of lungs. The study showed that many patients "are poorly informed about COPD and its management and much can be done to improve disease education".
"Better patient education and more effective patient-physician communication are clearly required and the opening up of alternative information channels may complement the patient-physician dialogue." The overall COPD prevalence in the 11 countries was found to be 3.6 percent which is almost similar to the proportion of population with asthma or chronic heart failure and 10 times higher than the proportion with epilepsy in the same age group.
Mortality and disability from COPD are expected to rise in developing countries, primarily because of increased rate of smoking, a known risk factor for the disease. The BREATHE Study showed that smoking remained a major and growing public health issue in Pakistan with an estimated cigarette smoking rate as high as 15.1 percent, while cigarette and water-pipe (or both) among men is as high as 30.1 percent and two percent in women.
Dr Nadeem Rizvi, Head of Department, Chest Medicine at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, stated: 'The study represents a cornerstone for building a long-lasting commitment to improving respiratory care in Pakistan. The study was published in Respiratory Medicine journal."
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