Global COPD prevalence, deaths and disability-adjusted life-years declined in recent years

COPD prevalence, death and disability-adjusted life-year rates around the world were lower in 2019 than in 1990, researchers reported in The BMJ.

Researchers conducted a systematic analysis of data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 for 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2019. Researchers assessed data on the prevalence, deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) of COPD and possible attributable risk factors.

Of the 212.3 million prevalent COPD cases reported globally in 2019, COPD accounted for 3.3 million deaths and 74.4 million DALYs. The global age-standardized point prevalence for COPD was 2,638.2 per 100,000 population, death rate was 42.5 and DALY rate was 926.1. These rates were 8.7%, 41.7% and 39.8% lower than those reported in 1990, respectively.

In 2019, the highest age-standardized point prevalence for COPD was in Denmark (4,299.5 per 100,000 population), followed by Myanmar (3,963.7 per 100,000 population) and Belgium (3,927.7 per 100,000 population). Egypt, Georgia and Nicaragua had the largest increases in age-standardized point prevalence for COPD from 1990 to 2019, at 62%, 54.9% and 51.6%, respectively.

In 2019, Nepal had the highest age-standardized death rate (182.5 per 100,000 population) and Japan had the lowest death rate (7.4 per 100,000 population).

In 2019, Nepal had the highest age-standardized DALY rate (3,318.4 per 100,000 population) and Barbados had the lowest DALY rate (177.7 per 100,000 population). Global DALYs for COPD increased up to age 85 to 89 years before decreasing with advancing age among men. However, this rate increased up to the oldest age group of 95 years or older in women. Researchers also noted an overall reversed V-shaped association regionally between sociodemographic index and the rate of age-standardized DALYs for COPD.

In addition, researchers found that smoking (46%), pollution from ambient particulate matter (20.7%) and occupational exposure to particulate matter, gases and fumes (15.6%) were the greatest contributors to the rates of DALYs for COPD.

“Although the point prevalence, death and DALY rates declined during the study period, the corresponding counts are increasing. With an aging population, COPD will continue to become an even greater problem in the future,” Saeid Safiri, PhD, assistant professor in the department of community medicine, the department of epidemiology and biostatistics and the Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Research Centre at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran, and colleagues wrote. “The reported global, regional and national burden of COPD, and its risk factors, could help to provide a more accurate projection of the future disease burden. This knowledge could guide policymakers in planning control measures and supply services to meet the rising health care demands that COPD and its comorbidities will create.”