Nearly 100 Million Chinese Adults Have COPD, New Study Reports

For over two decades, ambient air pollution is something with which the Chinese government has struggled. Most recently, a secondary study by Peking University noted that hazardous ground-level ozone concentrations have worsened in the northern part of China despite the government's increased efforts to take on air pollution.

According to the study's senior author, young men have often endured the largest percentage of complications involving the ambient air pollution. Senior Author Jiang He served as the Joseph Copes Chair of Epidemiology at Tulane University School of Public Heath & Tropical Medicine. 

"The biggest preventable risk factors for the disease are cigarette smoking and air pollution."

"Our research shows that COPD is highly prevalent in the Chinese adult population. The biggest preventable risk factors for the disease are cigarette smoking and air pollution," He says. "Prevention programs and increased efforts to catch COPD early should be public-health priorities in China to reduce COPD-related diseases and deaths."

The study noted that men had a higher prevalence of COPD than their female counterparts. Men had 11.9 percent of COPD as their highest prevalence of the disease. Of those aged 40 or higher, the risk also becomes higher.

The researchers gathered that 2.1 percent of those affected included population between 20 years old and 39 years old were affected by COPD. However, oddly enough, COPD was found more commonly among rural residents than those in an urban area.  

The researchers also put forth a number of different theories as to why certain people were affected by COPD and why others weren't. Those non-smokers who still developed COPD could have gotten the illness through the air pollution, chronic cough during childhood, or have a parental history of respiratory diseases. The researchers also believe that low bodyweights could also play a role in who is affected by COPD. 

The Tulane team encourages better national public health strategies in China specifically targeting COPD. They also want to see a stricter control of ambient air pollution -- something the Chinese government has been implementing within the last several years. COPD screenings and open discussion and education surrounding the disease could also help high-risk individuals take care of themselves earlier.