Prevalence of Undiagnosed Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Sufferers in the Region of Murcia

COPD is a serious, chronic and very disabling, associated with smoking and aging. Therefore it is a preventable and treatable process. It is know to be a pathology under diagnosed and when diagnosis, this is done in advanced stage, resulting to rise to more complication and more severe, in a addition to a high social and economic cost.

Therefore, take out an epidemiological study, observational, multicentre, whose main objective is estimate the prevalence of undiagnosed COPD in population served between 40 and 70 years and exposure to cigarettes in the Region of Murcia.

Other objectives are estimate the proportion of patients already diagnosed, identifying risk factors associated with not previous diagnosis of COPD and describe the history of symptoms in them. Description of therapeutic manage and motivation to give up smoking.

The study was carried out with 120 researcher doctors and 120 researcher nurses from 40 health centers in the Region of Murcia.

Each researcher will select 10 patients for the main objective and 10 for objectives related to manage of COPD.

Inclusion criteria

• Aged between 40 and 70 years of both sexes
• With a history of smoking (current or past)
• Do not diagnosed with COPD at the time of completion of study

Exclusion criteria

• Prior diagnosis of COPD or Asthma
• A condition prevents performing spirometry
• Patients displaced

For those diagnosed with COPD:

Inclusion criteria

• Subject treated in CS there is explicit evidence for the disease

Exclusion criteria

• Subjects who at the time of the consultation arouse suspicion of previously undiagnosed COPD