Figures
- Fig. 1.—
Prevalence of chronic bronchitis plotted by country and centre. Each symbol represents the value for one centre. Countries are ordered along the abscissa by increasing values of the median within each country. The dotted line indicates the median of the prevalences. Values significantly above or below the median for 35 centres are indicated. □: 95% confidence interval (CI) below and excludes study median; ▵ 95% CI includes study median; ○: 95% CI above and excludes study median. UK: United Kingdom; Fr: France; Au: Australia; Ic: Iceland; Swi: Switzerland; No: Norway; NL: the Netherlands; Swe: Sweden; NZ: New Zealand; It: Italy; Ge: Germany; Be: Belgium; De: Denmark; USA: United States of America; Ir: Ireland; Sp: Spain.
- Fig. 2.—
Prevalence of current smokers plotted by country and centre. Each symbol represents the value for one centre. Countries are ordered along the abscissa by increasing values of the median of the prevalences of chronic bronchitis within each country. The dotted line indicates the median of the prevalences of current smokers. Values significantly above or below the median for 35 centres are indicated. □: 95% confidence interval (CI) below and excludes study median; ▵ 95% CI includes study median; ○: 95% CI above and excludes study median. UK: United Kingdom; Fr: France; Au: Australia; Ic: Iceland; Swi: Switzerland; No: Norway; NL: the Netherlands; Swe: Sweden; NZ: New Zealand; It: Italy; Ge: Germany; Be: Belgium; De: Denmark; USA: United States of America; Ir: Ireland; Sp: Spain.
- Fig. 3.—
Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) % predicted in a) males and b) females, plotted according to chronic bronchitis and smoking habits. □: without chronic bronchitis; └: with chronic bronchitis.
Tables
- Table 1
Number of subjects randomly selected for the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS)-stage 2, number (%) of responders to questions on asthma and bronchitis, and number (%) of subjects with at least two technically acceptable measurements of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC)
Center (Country) Subjects selected for ECRHS-stage 2 Subjects filling in the questionnaire Subjects with reliable FEV1 and FVC measurement n n % n % Antwerp South (Belgium) 800 555 69.4 362 65.2 Antwerp City (Belgium) 867 560 64.6 335 59.8 Aarhus (Denmark) 652 363 55.7 290 79.9 Hamburg (Germany) 3312 1251 37.8 1008 80.6 Erfurt (Germany) 1076 721 67.0 629 87.2 Barcelona (Spain) 534 393 73.6 207 52.7 Galdakao (Spain) 576 486 84.4 386 79.4 Albacete (Spain) 658 435 66.1 416 95.6 Oviedo (Spain) 522 355 68.0 254 71.5 Huelva (Spain) 478 271 56.7 249 91.9 Bordeaux (France) 2936 539 18.4 429 79.6 Grenoble (France) 1165 484 41.5 466 96.3 Montpellier (France) 3736 451 12.1 442 98.0 Paris (France) 3113 648 20.8 574 88.6 Dublin (Ireland) 599 411 68.6 295 71.8 Pavia (Italy) 816 284 34.8 235 82.7 Turin (Italy) 518 243 46.9 208 85.6 Verona (Italy) 504 354 70.2 316 89.3 Groningen (The Netherlands) 599 425 71.0 406 95.5 Bergen-op-Zoom (The Netherlands) 638 496 77.7 481 97.0 Geleen (The Netherlands) 671 436 65.0 401 92.0 Cambridge (UK) 527 274 52.0 218 79.6 Ipswich (UK) 682 399 58.5 382 95.7 Norwich (UK) 655 460 70.2 360 78.3 Reykjavik (Iceland) 672 564 83.9 528 93.6 Bergen (Norway) 969 969 100.0 881 90.9 Goteborg (Sweden) 772 682 88.3 590 86.5 Umea (Sweden) 611 551 90.2 465 84.4 Uppsala (Sweden) 709 608 85.8 475 78.1 Basel (Switzerland) 1210 844 69.8 748 88.6 Wellington (New Zealand) 741 470 63.4 344 73.2 Christchurch (New Zealand) 712 449 63.1 325 72.4 Hawkes Bay (New Zealand) 549 314 57.2 189 60.2 Portland (USA) 1604 553 34.5 373 67.5 Melbourne (Australia) 1644 668 40.6 552 82.6 Total 36827 17966 48.8 14819 82.5 % are computed using people selected for random sample as reference
% are computed using people filling in the questionnaire as reference
- Table 2
Prevalence of current smokers and past smokers by sex and country in people attending the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS)-stage 2
Country Current smokers % Past smokers % Males Females Males Females Belgium 40.5 (36.1–45.0) 31.5 (27.9–35.3) 18.7 (15.4–22.5) 24.0 (20.7–27.5) Denmark 40.8 (32.9–49.0) 41.6 (34.7–48.7) 18.4 (12.6–25.5) 12.4 (8.2–17.7) Germany 47.8 (44.7–50.9) 39.7 (36.6–42.9) 22.8 (20.2–25.5) 22.5 (19.9–25.3) Spain 58.6 (55.3–61.7) 44.3 (41.2–47.4) 14.1 (12.0–16.5) 14.5 (12.4–16.9) France 38.3 (35.3–41.3) 32.0 (29.2–34.9) 24.6 (22.1–27.4) 24.1 (21.6–26.8) Ireland 44.2 (37.3–51.2) 46.5 (39.5–53.7) 18.4 (13.4–24.4) 13.9 (9.4–19.4) Italy 42.8 (38.1–47.6) 30.1 (25.8–34.6) 20.0 (16.4–24.1) 18.6 (15.0–22.5) The Netherlands 44.3 (40.4–48.2) 39.1 (35.4–42.9) 20.0 (17.0–23.3) 23.1 (19.9–26.4) UK 28.3 (24.3–32.5) 25.9 (22.5–29.5) 24.6 (20.8–28.6) 18.4 (15.5–21.6) Iceland 42.0 (36.1–48.1) 38.3 (32.7–44.1) 25.2 (20.2–30.8) 20.3 (15.9–25.4) Norway 46.1 (41.6–50.7) 43.3 (38.8–47.9) 13.5 (10.6–16.8) 17.2 (13.9–20.8) Sweden 26.2 (23.3–29.2) 31.0 (28.1–34.1) 23.6 (20.9–26.5) 21.7 (19.1–24.5) Switzerland 41.2 (36.5–46.1) 40.2 (35.5–45.1) 19.2 (15.5–23.3) 17.3 (13.8–21.3) New Zealand 21.8 (18.4–25.6) 23.7 (20.4–27.4) 24.3 (20.7–28.1) 24.2 (20.9–27.9) USA 23.5 (18.1–29.7) 17.8 (13.8–22.3) 19.9 (14.9–25.8) 21.7 (17.4–26.5) Australia 26.8 (22.0–32.0) 22.3 (18.0–27.0) 25.2 (20.6–30.4) 27.7 (23.1–32.8) Data are presented as prevalence rates (%) with 95% confidence interval in parentheses
- Table 3
Distribution of smoking habits in both sexes by the presence of chronic bronchitis
Smoking habits 〈Males***〉 〈Females***〉 〈Total***〉 With chronic bronchitis Without chronic bronchitis With chronic bronchitis Without chronic bronchitis With chronic bronchitis Without chronic bronchitis Nonsmokers 43 (13.4%) 3332 (40.4%) 55 (21.6%) 4101 (45.7%) 98 (17.0%) 7433 (43.1%) Past smokers 30 (9.3%) 1767 (21.4%) 26 (10.2%) 1886 (21.0%) 56 (9.7%) 3653 (21.2%) Current smokers 248 (77.3%) 3148 (38.2%) 174 (68.2%) 2992 (33.3%) 422 (73.3%) 6140 (35.6%) 1–14 pack-yrs 71 (22.1%) 1537 (18.6%) 80 (31.4%) 1906 (21.2%) 151 (26.2%) 3443 (20.0%) 15–29 pack-yrs 81 (25.2%) 941 (11.4%) 52 (20.4%) 753 (8.4%) 133 (23.1%) 1694 (9.8%) 30–44 pack-yrs 48 (15.0%) 297 (3.6%) 24 (9.4%) 175 (1.9%) 72 (12.5%) 472 (2.7%) ≥45 pack-yrs 33 (10.3%) 120 (1.5%) 9 (3.5%) 53 (0.6%) 42 (7.3%) 173 (1.0%) Unknown 15 (4.7%) 253 (3.1%) 9 (3.5%) 105 (1.2%) 24 (4.2%) 358 (2.1%) Total 321 8247 255 8979 576 17226 Data are presented as n (%). Some subjects (n=164) did not answer questions on smoking habits
***: p<0.001, the distribution of smoking habits varied significantly between subjects with and without chronic bronchitis in both sexes and in the total sample
- Table 4
Adjusted odds ratios (OR), 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) and p-values for the effect of smoking habits, respiratory infection before the age of 5 yrs, occupational exposure and socioeconomic status on chronic bronchitis
〈Males〉 〈Females〉 OR 95% CI OR 95% CI Smoking habits# Past smoker 1.38 0.84–2.26 1.08 0.67–1.72 Current smoker (1–14 pack-yrs) 3.51*** 2.31–5.32 3.06*** 2.13–44.0 Current smoker (15–29 pack-yrs) 6.32*** 4.20–9.52 5.02*** 3.36–7.48 Current smoker (30–44 pack-yrs) 12.13*** 7.57–19.46 8.47*** 4.89–14.65 Current smoker (≥45 pack-yrs) 17.32*** 9.97–30.11 10.63*** 4.69–24.13 Respiratory infection before the age of 5 yrs Yes versus no 0.90 0.57–1.41 1.40 0.95–2.07 Occupational exposure Yes versos no 1.49* 1.12–1.98 1.66*** 1.26–2.18 Socioeconomic status Low versus high 1.35* 1.01–1.81 1.08 0.79–1.48 #: versus nonsmokers
The ORs were calculated by a multilevel logistic regression model with random intercept at the level of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) centre and all predictor variables as fixed effects. The ORs were also adjusted for the effect of the percentage of responders to questions on asthma and bronchitis in each ECRHS centre
*: p<0.05
***: p<0.001
p-values for the main factors were determined using the wald test
