Projected Epidemic of COPD Hospitalizations-the Next 15 Yrs

[gerald]

Interesting projection.  Finally smoking as a cause is beginning to be put in proper perspective.  Dr Don Sin is a major reasearch in COPD so if this focus's the research at UBC and St. Pauls it will be a major gain



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The Projected Epidemic of COPD Hospitalizations Over the Next 15 Years: A Population Based Perspective

Amir Khakban, Don D Sin, J Mark FitzGerald, Bruce McManus, Raymond Ng, Zsuzsanna Hollander, and Mohsen Sadatsafavi
+ Author Information.
Corresponding Author: Don D Sin, Email: [e-mail]


Abstract

COPD is currently one of the leading causes of hospitalizations in industrialized countries. The future burden of COPD is uncertain as the trends in the prevalence of the main risk factors for COPD, namely cigarette smoking and population aging, are moving in opposite directions in many jurisdictions. Here, we used data from British Columbia (BC), a Canadian Province of 4.7 million people, as an exemplary jurisdiction to illustrate the projected growth of COPD hospitalizations over the next 15 years in developed countries. We combined forecasts of population growth and aging with an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model applied to BC’s population-based administrative health databases (2001 to 2010) to project the trends in the incidence, prevalence, deaths, and total length of inpatient stays to 2030. Based on this model, we predict that the absolute number of COPD cases will increase by more than 150% from 2010 to 2030 with the greatest growth in the older age group (75 years of age and older), where the absolute number will increase by 220%. The burden of inpatient care, measured as the total annual inpatient days, will grow by 185%. Assuming no disruptive changes in the prevention and the treatment of COPD in the near future, the burden of COPD, especially the burden of inpatient care, will significantly escalate over the next 15 years, driven predominantly by population aging. There is a pressing need to develop new preventive strategies and treatments to reduce the future burden of COPD.



www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/rccm.201606-1162PP#.V-wCV6IrKHT

[jarca]

i don't understand what it's saying.....= old age & living in industrialized nations causes copd?

also, isn't this the time line that the baby boomers will be dying off & causing a burden on our inpatient care also?

[gerald]

Jarca, i think you have kind of hit the nail on the head.

Also we are probably seeing the greater percentage of people living into the senior ages. When you recognise that 100 years ago life expectancy was thought to be 47 to 50, most people would have died before COPD could be diagnosed. We now have people living long enough to suffer from an entire range of diseases of old age. Add to that our feed is not as nutient rich as it was and our environment is comprimised!