Chronic airflow obstruction attributable to poverty in the multinational Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study

Patel, Jaymini H.; Amaral, Andre F. S.; Minelli, Cosetta; Elfadaly, Fadlalla G.; Mortimer, Kevin; El Sony, Asma; El Rhazi, Karima; Seemungal, Terence A. R.; Mahesh, Padukudru Anand; Obaseki, Daniel O.; Denguezli, Meriam; Ahmed, Rana; Cherkaski, Hamid; Koul, Parvaiz; Rashid, Abdul; Loh, Richard Li Cher; Lawin, Herve; Al Ghobain, Mohammed; Nafees, Asaad Ahmed; Aquart-Stewart, Althea; Harrabi, Imed; Buist, Sonia and Burney, Peter G. J. (2023). Chronic airflow obstruction attributable to poverty in the multinational Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study. Thorax, 78(9) pp. 942–945.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/thorax-2022-218668

Abstract

Poverty is strongly associated with all-cause and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mortality. Less is known about the contribution of poverty to spirometrically defined chronic airflow obstruction (CAO)-a key characteristic of COPD. Using cross-sectional data from an asset-based questionnaire to define poverty in 21 sites of the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease study, we estimated the risk of CAO attributable to poverty. Up to 6% of the population over 40 years had CAO attributable to poverty. Understanding the relationship between poverty and CAO might suggest ways to improve lung health, especially in low-income and middle-income countries.