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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ( Copd )

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1.0 Introduction By 2020, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is poised to be the third leading cause of death worldwide (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease [GOLD], 2017). Unlike most of the other diseases, COPD’s mortality rate is rising (GOLD, 2017). This paper aims to define COPD and its prevalence in Australia and China. A couple of prevention and treatment strategies will also be examined in the paper. 2.0 Definition of COPD COPD is a serious, non-communicable respiratory disease (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2016). It is characterised by mucociliary dysfunction and limited airflow to the lungs (GOLD, 2017). Parenchymal destruction (emphysema) and small airways diseases (for …show more content…

3.1 Prevalence in Australia. Despite COPD being responsible for 4.4% of all Australian deaths in 2013, self-reported data from 2014-2015 National Health Survey indicates that just 2.6% (600,000) of the Australian population believed they had COPD (AIHW, 2016). Questionnaires have a tendency to underestimate the true prevalence of COPD (Gupta et al., 2013). Lower socioeconomic regions have higher rates (4.1%) of COPD when compared to higher socioeconomic regions (1.5%) (AIHW, 2016). COPD was more prevalent in Inner regional areas (3.4%) when compared to Outer regional/Remote areas (2.7%) and major cities (2.4%) (AIHW, 2016). COPD patients also tend to be older, hence 90% of patients with COPD exhibit comorbidity (AIHW, 2016). 3.2 Prevalence in China. COPD cases in China totaled 32.4 million in 1990; while in 2013, the number was 54.8 million, a significant rise in two decades (Yin et al., 2016). In 2011, COPD had a prevalence rate of 6.7% to 8.3% in the urban areas and 4.4% to 16.7% in the rural areas (Fang, Wang, & Bai, 2011). COPD seemed to have an affinity for men (8.3% to 18.9%) than women (3.8% to 7.1%) (Fang, Wang, & Bai, 2011). China recorded over 910,000 COPD related deaths in 2013, constituting 31% of the worldwide COPD death tally (Yin et al., 2016). 4.0 Prevention and Treatment Strategies Effective preventative and treatment strategies need to be devised and implemented to control COPD (Rennard & Drummond,

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