Prevalence and health status of COPD in rural West Bengal

Background: Understanding the spirometry-based prevalence with concomitant assessment of the health status is important to appreciate the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-scenario in a geographic area. There is hardly any such rural data available from the developing world. Methods: We screened the adult population (>40 but 10 pack-years). The nonsmokers constituted 25, 90% (n = 43). Conclusion: The rural COPD prevalence in Bengal is far higher than the estimated national average with the health status of the sufferers been poor.