Missed opportunities for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in under-served populations (ID 482)
University of Sheffield
Funding: NIHR Research Capability Funds
Abstract
Background:COPD is a preventable, treatable chronic lung disease affecting three million people in the UK, associated with a substantial disease burden. COPD is commoner in deprived communities and associated with risk factors such as smoking, air pollution and poor housing. Some ethnic minority groups are at higher risk of developing COPD as they are both more likely to smoke and live in the most income-deprived neighbourhoods. In addition, they are more likely to have non-smoking COPD, and first-generation immigrants are likely to have alternative risk factor exposures.
Aim
Describe the percentage of patients diagnosed with COPD in general practices in Sheffield and South Yorkshire.
Method
National routinely collected NHS digital data describing the number of adults with diagnosed COPD per 1000 adults over the age of 40 years by general practice, and the 2021 census data to estimate ethnicity data at general practice level was used. A multivariable analysis was conducted including smoking, age and index of multiple deprivation deciles.
Results:
The greater the percentage of ethnic minorities registered at a general practice in Sheffield the lower the percentage of patients diagnosed with COPD when adjusting for age, smoking and index of multiple deprivation decile (Figure 1). The same pattern is observed within South Yorkshire regional general practice data (Figure 2), with decreasing percentages of patients diagnosed with COPD in practices with higher percentages of patients from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Conclusion:
These data suggest that current strategies used for recognising COPD, are disproportionately missing cases in ethnic minority populations. Ethnic minority populations are likely to be at high risk of COPD, are more likely to smoke and have non-smoking related COPD but have lower rates of diagnosed COPD. This is area-level data reflecting general practice populations, therefore analysis at the individual level is needed to confirm these associations.
Conflicts of interest: None
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