Objectives: to estimate the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Brindisi Province (Southern Italy) during the period 2005-2009.
Design: longitudinal approach using electronic health data.
Setting and participants: prevalence of COPD cases where defined as: 35+ year-old residents in Brindisi Province discharged from hospital with a diagnosis of COPD, recorded in any of the diagnostic fields, during the period 2005-2009; residents discharged in the previous 4 years and still alive at the beginning of the year considered; residents who died of COPD without previous hospital admissions for the same disease. Diagnoses codes selected from discharge data and cause of mortality archive were 490-492, 494 and 496, of the International Classification of Diseases - IX Revision - Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM).
Main outcome measures: crude prevalence and age standardized prevalence (per 100 residents), with confidence intervals (95%CI), by gender.
Results: COPD prevalence rates did not change in Brindisi Province over the period of study and the rate was around 6.6%. Prevalence was higher in males and increased with age both among males and females. The rates were higher among the females resident in Brindisi town than those observed among females resident in the rest of the municipalities of the Province considered. Among males, prevalence rates were similar between males living in the selected areas.
Conclusions: this study is the first to present COPD prevalence rates estimated for the Brindisi Province based on electronic health data. The results showed a higher COPD prevalence in Brindisi then in other Italian cities and spatial and temporal differences by gender among Brindisi and the rest of the municipalities considered. Results require additional investigations. In particular, the use of additional health data sources not considered in the present study might help in better explaining the differences observed.