Risk factors and intervention for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in C hina

In C hina, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ) is one of the most common chronic diseases with a prevalence of 8.2% in the population over 40 years of age. In 2006, it was the third most common cause of death in C hina accounting for 17.6% of all deaths. Although worldwide smoking is the most common risk factor for COPD , in C hina, additional important risk factors include environmental tobacco smoke, biomass smoke and post‐pulmonary tuberculosis. Interventions based on mitigating these risk factors have a particularly important role in strategies aimed at preventing COPD in C hina. Indeed, preliminary research findings have shown that early intervention based on minimizing these risk factors might be a cost‐effective way to prevent COPD in C hina. Future research should focus on large scale, randomized and controlled prospective studies to address the efficacy, feasibility and health economics of minimizing these important risk factors in C hina.