[Epidemiology of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Algiers].

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its consequences in terms of disability and mortality are, in current practice, a serious public health problem whose prevalence is unknown in Algeria. This study aims to evaluate this disease in order to plan a better system of management.

Methods: The study used a questionnaire and spirometry and involved a representative sample of the adult population aged over 21 years. It was carried out with the assistance of the National Office of the Statistics (ONS) near the homes of the subjects who were selected according to the random mode in three degrees. The study concerned 1800 adults (50.4% men and 49.6% women) regardless of their tobacco smoking status. They were asked to answer the questionnaire and to perform spirometry.

Results: The prevalence of COPD is 4.9% for the whole population. It is rare before forty years of age (0.1%) and reaches 9.2% in those over 40 years old. In this older group the difference according to sex is significant (16.1% for men, 2.5% for women). Tobacco smoking increases the prevalence which reaches 31.5% among smokers, 14.6% among the ex-smokers and 2.5% among non-smokers. It increases with age and affects one man on four over 65 years old and one smoker on two in this age bracket. The prevalence of the various stages of severity is 6%, 2.7%, 0.3% and 0.2% respectively.

Conclusion: The prevalence of the COPD found approaches that described in the literature. It increases with age and tobacco smoking and 0.2% of the population aged more than 40 years suffer from respiratory handicap. The management of this disease requires better organization at both the medical and social level.