PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Buni, Halima
AU  - Jordan, Rachel
AU  - Adab, Peymane
AU  - Enocson, Alexandra
AU  - Cheng, Kar Keung
TI  - COPD over diagnosis in the UK
AID  - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2015.OA3288
DP  - 2015 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - OA3288
VI  - 46
IP  - suppl 59
4099  - https://publications.ersnet.org//content/46/suppl_59/OA3288.short
4100  - https://publications.ersnet.org//content/46/suppl_59/OA3288.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2015 Sep 01; 46
AB  - Introduction: Over diagnosis is a growing concern for a wide range of diseases. We aimed to assess the magnitude of COPD over-diagnosis in the UK primary care settings and examine the characteristics of patients potentially over-diagnosed with COPD.Methods: We analysed data on 1,473 GP diagnosed COPD patients aged 40 years and over who participated in the Birmingham COPD cohort study-UK. Patients were classified as non-COPD or confirmed-COPD based on post-bronchodilator spirometry results. Characteristics were compared using logistic regression adjusted for age, sex and smoking status.Results: Based on GOLD, LLN (GLI-2012 equations) and NICE 2004 definitions, 13.7%, 28.1% and 32.3% of participants were potentially over-diagnosed with COPD respectively. Restrictive pattern of lung disease was observed in 18.9% of non-COPD. Compared to confirmed-COPD, non-COPD were younger (mean age 67.2 versus 69.5 years, OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.96 - 0.99), more likely to be female (52.2% versus 35.4%, OR 0.5; CI 0.4 - 0.7), never smokers (22.9% versus 13.8%, OR 0.5; CI 0.4 - 0.7), obese (39.3% versus 31%, OR 1.6; CI 1.04 - 2.5), with multiple co-morbidities (23.9% versus 16.4%, OR 1.7; CI 1.1 - 2.8) and showed less FEV1 reversibility (10% versus 21.4%, OR 0.4; CI 0.2 - 0.7). Non-COPD participants were more likely to report previous asthma (47.3% versus 38.7%), coronary heart diseases (18.4% versus 14.2%), diabetes (19% versus 14%) and depression (21.4% versus 16.8%). But the difference between groups was insignificant.Conclusion: Over diagnosis was common. We identified female sex, obesity, restrictive lung pattern and multiple comorbidities as potential predictors for COPD over-diagnosis but recommend a follow-up assessment for spirometry variability.