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Rebecca Ingenhoff,1,2 Nicole Robertson,3 Richard Munana,4,5 Benjamin E Bodnar,6 Ivan Weswa,5 Isaac Sekitoleko,7,8 Julia Gaal,1 Bruce J Kirenga,9 Robert Kalyesubula,5,10,11 Felix Knauf,1,11 Trishul Siddharthan12 1Department of Nephrology and Medical Intensive Care, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; 2Charité Center for Global Health, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; 3University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY, USA; 4School of Public Health, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda; 5African Community Center for Social Sustainability, Nakaseke, Uganda; 6Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; 7MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit, Kampala, Uganda; 8London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK; 9Makerere University Lung Institute, Kampala, Uganda; 10Department of Physiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda; 11Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; 12Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USACorrespondence: Rebecca Ingenhoff, Email Rebecca.ingenhoff@charite.deBackground: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death globally. The burden of COPD is expected to increase in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). COPD screening and diagnostics tools are often inaccessible in rural settings of LMICs. To contribute to the growing body of evidence on the effectiveness of Community Health Worker (CHW) interventions, this study aims to understand the facilitators and barriers of implementing a CHW-led COPD screening and referral program in rural Uganda.Methods: This qualitative study was conducted from September to October 2022 to explore Community Members, CHWs, and Healthcare Providers (HCPs) perceptions on the challenges of CHW-delivered COPD programming in Nakaseke, rural Uganda. In total, we held eight individual in-depth interviews with CHWs, ten in-depth interviews with HCPs and six focus group discussions with 34 Community Members. Research assistants audio-recorded and transcribed interviews verbatim. The implementation outcomes framework guided the thematic analysis.Results: Implementation acceptability was constrained by a lack of COPD awareness, a lack of perceived utility in COPD screening as well as stigma around the diagnostic process. Limited spirometry adoption was also attributed to Community Member accessibility and willingness to participate in the COPD diagnostic referral process. The high patient volume and the complex, time-consuming diagnostic and referral process hindered successful implementation. To enhance program sustainability, all participants suggested increasing CHW support, medication access, decentralizing COPD care and upscaling follow-up of Community Members by CHWs.Conclusion: CHW-led interventions remain a potentially critical tool to alleviate barriers to treatment and self-management in settings where access to care is limited. While community-based interventions can create sustainable infrastructure to improve health outcomes, formative assessments of the potential barriers prior to intervention are required. Evidence-based, localized approaches and sustained funding are imperative to achieve this.Keywords: community health workers, task shifting, screening and referral, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Uganda

Trishul Siddharthan,1,2 Adaeze C Wosu,2,3 Suzanne L Pollard,1,2 Shakir Hossen,1,2 Patricia Alupo,4,5 Timothy Shade,1,2 Robert Kalyesubula,4 Shumonta Quaderi,6 Robert A Wise,1 John R Hurst,6 Bruce Kirenga,4,5 William Checkley1,2 On behalf of LiNK Cohort Study Investigators1Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; 2Center for Global Non-Communicable Disease Research and Training, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; 3Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; 4School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda; 5Makerere Lung Institute, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda; 6UCL Respiratory, University College London, London, UKCorrespondence: William CheckleyDivision of Pulmonary and Critical Care, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 1800 Orleans Ave Suite 9121, Baltimore, MD 21287, USATel +1 443-287-4587Email wcheckl1@jhmi.eduBackground: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) account for > 90% of deaths and illness episodes related to COPD; however, this condition is commonly underdiagnosed in these settings. Case-finding instruments for COPD may improve diagnosis and identify individuals that need treatment, but few have been validated in resource-limited settings.Methods: We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study in Uganda to assess the diagnostic accuracy of a respiratory symptom, exposure and functional questionnaire in combination with peak expiratory flow for COPD diagnosis using post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC z-score below the 5th percentile as the gold standard. We included locally relevant exposure questions and statistical learning techniques to identify the most important risk factors for COPD. We used 80% of the data to develop the case-finding instrument and validated it in the remaining 20%. We evaluated for calibration and discrimination using standard approaches. The final score, COLA (COPD in LMICs Assessment), included seven questions, age and pre-bronchodilator peak expiratory flow.Results: We analyzed data from 1,173 participants (average age 47 years, 46.9% male, 4.5% with COPD) with acceptable and reproducible spirometry. The seven questions yielded a cross-validated area-under-the-curve [AUC] of 0.68 (95% CI 0.61– 0.75) with higher scores conferring greater odds of COPD. The inclusion of peak expiratory flow and age improved prediction in a validation sample (AUC=0.83, 95% CI 0.78– 0.88) with a positive predictive value of 50% and a negative predictive value of 96%. The final instrument (COLA) included seven questions, age and pre-bronchodilator peak expiratory flow.Conclusion: COLA predicted COPD in urban and rural settings in Uganda has high calibration and discrimination, and could serve as a simple, low-cost screening tool in resource-limited settings.Keywords: low- and middle-income countries, COPD, COLA, respiratory symptom

Matthew Grigsby,1,2 Trishul Siddharthan,1 Muhammad AH Chowdhury,3 Ali Siddiquee,3 Adolfo Rubinstein,4 Edgardo Sobrino,4 J Jaime Miranda,5,6 Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz,5 Dewan Alam,7 William Checkley1,2 1Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, School of Medicine, 2Program in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; 3Centre for Control of Chronic Diseases, icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 4Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy, Buenos Aires, Argentina; 5CRONICAS Centre of Excellence for Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, 6Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru; 7Faculty of Health, School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is a strong social determinant of health. There remains a limited understanding of the association between SES and COPD prevalence among low- and middle-income countries where the majority of COPD-related morbidity and mortality occurs. We examined the association between SES and COPD prevalence using data collected in Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay.Methods: We compiled lung function, demographic, and SES data from three population-based studies for 11,042 participants aged 35–95 years. We used multivariable alternating logistic regressions to study the association between COPD prevalence and SES indicators adjusted for age, sex, self-reported daily smoking, and biomass fuel smoke exposure. Principal component analysis was performed on monthly household income, household size, and education to create a composite SES index.Results: Overall COPD prevalence was 9.2%, ranging from 1.7% to 15.4% across sites. The adjusted odds ratio of having COPD was lower for people who completed secondary school (odds ratio [OR] =0.73, 95% CI 0.55–0.98) and lower with higher monthly household income (OR =0.96 per category, 95% CI 0.93–0.99). When combining SES factors into a composite index, we found that the odds of having COPD was greater with lower SES (interquartile OR =1.23, 95% CI 1.05–1.43) even after controlling for subject-specific factors and environmental exposures.Conclusion: In this analysis of multiple population-based studies, lower education, lower household income, and lower composite SES index were associated with COPD. Since household income may be underestimated in population studies, adding household size and education into a composite index may provide a better surrogate for SES. Keywords: COPD, socioeconomic status, low- and middle-income country