Estimated prevalences of respiratory symptoms, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease related to detection rate in primary health care

Objective - To assess the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to relate it to an estimated detection rate in primary health care. Design - A two-staged study with a cross-sectional survey and a clinical validation. Setting - The adult population of Varmland, a county in Sweden. Subjects - 4814 persons completed the survey and 206 the confirmative validation study. Main outcome measures - Prevalence of respiratory symptoms, of asthma and COPD. Results - More than 40% reported respiratory symptoms. Wheeze was reported by 8.0%, shortness of breath by 11.4% and sputum production by 14.1%. Smoking was more common among women than among men. The prevalence of asthma was 8.2% and COPD 2.1%. Of persons with asthma, 33% were estimated to be undiagnosed, 67% used medication and nearly 60% attended primary health care services. Conclusion ? Respiratory symptoms as well as asthma were common in this study and equivalent to earlier findings. The difference b...