Prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among US working adults aged 40 to 70 years. National Health Interview Survey data 2004 to 2011.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a primary cause of morbidity and mortality globally.1 In the United States, COPD ranks third in causes of mortality with 100,000 deaths annually. An estimated 15 million people had health care provider diagnosed COPD in 2010, and an estimated 12 million potential cases remain undiagnosed.2–4 The estimated total annual cost of COPD for 2010 was $49.9 billion.5 The probability of being employed is reduced by 8.6% with COPD associated disability.4 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a chronic disease, mostly affecting older adults.6, 7 Balmes et al8 concluded that 15% of COPD is attributable to occupational exposure. Furthermore, according to Bang et al,9 certain occupation groups have higher prevalence of COPD, especially among service occupations. Therefore, for this study we analyzed data for working adults aged 40 to 70 years by occupation. This study is based on National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data (2004 to 2011) for COPD by occupation, representing a large sample of US working adults. The aim of this study was to (1) estimate the prevalence of COPD among older working adults in the United States by major occupational groups, and (2) provide prevalence odds ratios (PORs) of COPD by major occupational groups.