Chronic- Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Will Be Third Leading Cause of Death Globally by 2030, Warns World Health Organization
Gulf Thoracic Congress Dubai 2011 - The Ritz Carlton, DIFC, March 16-19
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Smoke from a traditional Emirati cooking method using wood 'tannour' may increase the risk of a lung disease normally associated with cigarette smoking and needs further investigation, according to researchers of the first-ever UAE study into the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which is being presented this weekend at the Gulf Thoracic Congress (1).
COPD is tipped by the World Health Organization to become the third leading cause of death globally by 2030, behind heart disease and stroke (2). COPD damages the lungs causing breathlessness which in the worst cases requires patients to be long-term drug treatment and oxygen therapy. Globally around 80 percent of COPD cases are linked to cigarette smoking.
However, a new study carried out at Zayed Military Hospital, Abu Dhabi, which measured the lung function of 520 random patients aged 40-80 years, who were mostly Emirati, has highlighted that smoke from cooking with wood 'tannour', which is a traditional method for making certain UAE dishes, may play an important role in local COPD cases.
The research found that 33 percent of those diagnosed with COPD had been exposed to environmental pollutants such as smoke from cooking wood, whereas just 24 percent smoked cigarettes or had been smokers, and five percent smoked shisha. Overall findings showed the prevalence of COPD in the study group was 3.7 percent, about the same as global prevalence of between four and six percent.
"This is the first-ever study to investigate the prevalence of COPD in the UAE, taking a special look at the local risk factors associated with developing the disease, other than cigarette smoking which is reported globally to cause 80 percent of cases," said lead researcher Dr. Ashraf Al Zaabi, Head of the Respiratory division, Zayed Military Hospital, Abu Dhabi.
"What we can conclude from our study is that in those aged 40-80 years in Abu Dhabi COPD has a relatively low prevalence. We also found a significant association between COPD and exposure to tannour which would be worth looking at as part of a further investigation, as well as the role cigarette smoking plays in COPD in the UAE to see if it has as big an impact as it does in other parts of the world," he added.
The study's findings will be discussed at the Gulf Thoracic Congress on March 19 as part of a session on COPD management which will include a presentation from international expert in respiratory medicine, Professor Mario Cazzola, Chief of the Respiratory Clinical Pharmacology Unit, University of Rome, Itlay.
Some of the key points Professor Cazzola will highlight include; the ongoing global issue of the misdiagnosis of COPD as asthma - especially in women, poor and inadequate prescribing practices and failure to investigate the co-morbidities of COPD such as cardiovascular disease which need to be treated too.
"COPD is under diagnosed and undertreated across the world and is the only major disease which is on the increase. So it is unsurprising that the World Health Organization has predicted that COPD will become the third leading cause of death across the globe, behind heart disease and stroke, by 2030," said Professor Cazzola.
First-line maintenance treatment for COPD includes short-acting and long-acting bronchodilators which relax the muscles around the airways helping to make breathing easier. They are taken via inhaler - the newest long acting beta-2-agonist medication called indacaterol is the first of its class that only needs to be used once a day.
Gulf Thoracic Dubai 2011 is the 2nd Annual Conference of The Saudi Thoracic Society and the Emirates Allergy and Respiratory Society, in collaboration with the American College of Chest Physicians. It is taking place at The Ritz Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre, from March 16-19.
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Research:
[1] Al Zaabi A, et al., Prevalence of COPD in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Respiratory Medicine (2011), doi:10.1016/j.rmed.2010.12.008
[2] World Health Organization, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Burden: http://www.who.int/respiratory/copd/burden/en/
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