TY - JOUR T1 - Use of a USA population survey to describe tobacco exposure, respiratory symptoms, and chronic diseases among smokers JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P1080 AU - Yong Liu AU - Roy Pleasants AU - Janet Croft AU - Anne Wheaton AU - Khosrow Heidari AU - Jill Ohar AU - Monica Kraft AU - David Mannino AU - Charlie Strange Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1080.abstract N2 - Purpose: We used the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), an annual USA health survey, to assess relationships among years of tobacco use, respiratory symptoms, and major chronic diseases. Methods: Questions addressing duration of tobacco use and frequency of cough as well as shortness of breath were added to the 100+ question 2012 South Carolina BRFSS. Data were analyzed to assess the relationships of years of tobacco use, respiratory symptoms, and comorbidities (accounting for age and complex sampling design). Results: Among ever smokers(n=5462 adults), the distribution of years of tobacco use was 33.0% for 1-9, 25.6% for 10-19, 19.3% for 20-29, 12.4% for 30-39, and 9.6% for >40 years. Regarding respiratory symptoms in these persons, 13.6% had a productive cough most or every day each week, 5.7% had shortness of breath (SOB) most or all of the time, and 9.2% strongly agreed that SOB affected physical activity in the last year. Furthermore, 10.6% had COPD, 8.6% had coronary heart disease (CHD), 10.9% had diabetes, 30.3% had arthritis, 11.1% had any cancer, 38.1% had high blood pressure (HBP), 3.6% had stroke, and 2.6% had kidney disease. After controlling for age, dose-response relationships of tobacco use were observed for the likelihood of having COPD, CHD, diabetes, arthritis, and all three respiratory symptoms(p<0.05); however, the likelihood of having asthma(current or ever), any cancer, HBP, stroke, or kidney disease did not increase with increasing years of tobacco use. Conclusion: Our population-based data shows a significant relationship between prolonged tobacco use and frequency of respiratory symptoms as well as some chronic diseases. ER -