Prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Its Associated Risk Factors in Yunnan Province, China: A Population Based Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a significant disease impacting health and quality of life. Yunnan Province, a major tobacco producer, lacks comprehensive COPD studies. The purpose of this study is to describe the epidemic situation of COPD in Yunnan province and explore its influencing factors.
Methods: This study is a cross-sectional research conducted in a representative sample of adults aged 20 and older from 13 prefectures and cities in Yunnan Province, China. COPD was diagnosed using post-bronchodilator pulmonary function tests. Demographics were analyzed with descriptive statistics. The influencing factors of COPD were examined by using the multivariate logistic regression models.
Results: Our study found that high-risk individuals for COPD accounted for 20.30% of the screened population aged 20 and above, with a COPD prevalence of 27.18% among this high-risk group. Male had a higher prevalence (33.01%) than did female (16.35%; p< 0.001 for sex difference). Additionally, the proportion of severe and extremely severe COPD cases in Yunnan Province was higher than the national average and other provinces. After considering the potential confounding variables, male (OR=2.291, 95% CI: 1.584– 3.313), age (OR=1.501, 95% CI: 1.338– 1.685), underweight (OR=1.747, 95% CI: 1.225– 2.491), previous smoking (OR=1.712, 95% CI: 1.182– 2.478), passive smoking (OR=1.444, 95% CI: 1.159– 1.800), and a history of respiratory system diseases in childhood (OR=2.010, 95% CI: 1.346– 3.001) were significantly associated with an increased risk of COPD. Conversely, being overweight (OR=0.636, 95% CI: 0.489– 0.828), and residing in high-altitude counties (OR=0.445, 95% CI: 0.263– 0.754) were negatively correlated with the risk of COPD.
Conclusion: There is significant prevalence of COPD (27.18%) among high-risk population aged 20 and above in Yunnan Province, China. Apart from male, smoking, BMI and other known risk factors for COPD. We found that high-altitude residence had a lower prevalence of COPD. There is no significant difference in COPD prevalence between Han and ethnic minority populations.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, epidemiological characteristics, influencing factors, high-risk population, China