Recent Trends in the Prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Korea

• Published in: Tuberculosis and respiratory diseases Vol. 80; no. 3; pp. 226 - 229
• Main Authors: Hwang, Yong Il, Park, Yong Bum, Yoo, Kwang Ha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) The Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 01.07.2017; 대한결핵및호흡기학회
• Subjects: Review; 내과학; Pulmonary Disease; Chronic Obstructive; Prevalence; Trends; Korea
• ISSN: 1738-3536; 2005-6184
• DOI: 10.4046/trd.2017.80.3.226

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had been considered the only major disease that is continuing to increase in prevalence. There were a few studies about the change of the prevalence of COPD, which showed the prevalence of COPD did not increase. In this review, we report on the trends in the prevalence of COPD in Korea using the data from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). The prevalence of COPD in 2015 was 13.4% (male, 21.6%; female, 5.8%). The prevalence of COPD did not change much, which ranged from 13.1% to 14.6% during the period from 2010 to 2015. Among the subjects found to have COPD by spirometry, only 2.8% had been diagnosed as COPD by physicians during the period from 2011 and 2015. In conclusion, the prevalence of COPD did not change significantly during the period from 2010 to 2015. And most COPD patients still had not been diagnosed by physicians and consequently had not been treated appropriately.