Comparison of Prevalence and Risk Factors in COPD Patients With and Without History of Smoking

Abstract

A prospective cross-sectional study to compare the prevalence and risk factors in chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD) patient with and without a history of smoking. This was an observational study conducted in the department of respiratory medicine, Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute (CHRI), Kancheepuram. A total of 206 patients with COPD, diagnosed as per GOLD criteria were enrolled in the study. Out of 206 COPD patients, 164 (79.61%) were men, and 42 (20.4%) were women and their mean age was 62.88 (± 9.53). The prevalence of COPD patients in smokers/ex-smokers were 125 (60.7%) and 81 (39.3%) in never smokers. There were 75 patients (92.59%) in the never smoker cohort and 72 patients (57.6%) in the ex-smoker/smoker cohort found to have at least one non-smoking risk factor for COPD. Biomass Exposure (39.50%), Passive Smoking (22.22%, P=), Co-existing Asthma (22.22%) were the non-smoking risk factors which were found to be present significantly higher in never smokers than smokers/ex-smokers, and the difference was statistically significant (<0.05). A higher proportion of severe patients were in smokers/ex-smokers than non- smokers (41.6% vs 27. 1%). Patients with moderate disease in both groups were found to be of equal proportion (12% vs 11. 11%). The results of the study reiterate that a significant proportion of COPD patients were never smokers and prevalence of non-smoking risk factors were more common in that population.