Prevalence and Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease Group Distribution of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Detected by Preoperative Pulmonary Function Test

Background: Despite being a major public health problem, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains underdiagnosed, and only 2.4% COPD patients are aware of their disease in Korea. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of COPD detected by spirometry performed as a preoperative screening test and to determine the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) group distribution and self-awareness of COPD. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of adults (age, ≥40 years) who had undergone spirometry during preoperative screening between April and August 2013 at a tertiary hospital in Korea. COPD was defined as a postbronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity ratio of 40 years who had undergone spirometry as a preoperative screening test, 474 (15.6%; 404 men; median age, 70 years; range, 44–93 years) were diagnosed with COPD. Only 26 (5.5%) patients reported previous diagnosis of COPD (2.1%), emphysema (0.8%), or chronic bronchitis (2.5%). The GOLD group distribution was as follows: 63.3% in group A, 31.2% in group B, 1.7% in group C, and 3.8% in group D. Conclusions: The prevalence of COPD diagnosed by preoperative spirometry was 15.6%, and only 5.5% patients were aware of their disease. Approximately one-third of the COPD patients belonged to GOLD groups B, C, and D, which require regular treatment.