Objective: The basic data were analysed to carry out the project of "the study on prevention and treatment of COPD and chronic cor pulmonale population" and to provide some scientific basis for making strategies of prevention and treatment of COPD and chronic cor pulmonale in communities.
Method: The basic survey of the study was carried out on 102,230 rural people in the spring of 1992. At first the family inquiry into the chronic airway inflammation history and smoking index > or = 300 were made in population aged 15 years or more. Those with FEV1/FVC < 70% in lung function were considered as having COPD, and chronic cor pulmonale was diagnosed according to national criteria by chest radiography and electrocardiography.
Result: There were 67,251 people aged > or = 15 years in 102,230 population, among them 33,119 were male and 34,132 were female. Of the 7,400 subjects who should be investigated, 6,536 subjects were really investigated (88.3%), which accounted for 9.7% of > or = 15 year population. 2,020 people were diagnosed as having COPD, the prevalence of COPD being 3.0% in total population(> or = 15 years), and the highest was 4.5% in Beijing. The prevalences of COPD in smokers, subjects with chronic airway inflammation history and both of them were 24.6%, 34.7% and 40.4%, respectively. The sole smoking accounted for 40.7% and chronic airway inflammation history for 28.4% in the all COPD causes, respectively. 71.6% of COPD were related to smoking. 452 patients were diagnosed as having chronic cor pulmonale, which accounted for 23.1% of COPD, for 6.7@1000 of > or = 15 year population, for 4.4@1000 in total population.
Conclusion: The basic data demonstrate that the prevalence of COPD and chronic cor pulmonale are quite high. There are remarkable differences of the prevalences among different regions. The primary causes of COPD and chronic cor pulmonale are smoking and chronic airway inflammation. The strategy of prevention and treatment of them should be a comprehensive one, the key measure be smoking cessation and controling airway inflammation.