Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Correspondence
Disentangling the discordance between epidemiological associations and physiological mechanisms
  1. Sanja Stanojevic1,
  2. Tim J Cole2,
  3. Janet Stocks3,
  4. Philip H Quanjer4
  1. 1Division of Respiratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  2. 2Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK
  3. 3Portex Respiratory Unit, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK
  4. 4Department of Pulmonary Diseases and Department of Paediatrics-Pulmonary Diseases, Erasmus Medical Centre, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  1. Correspondence to Dr Sanja Stanojevic, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada; Sanja.Stanojevic{at}sickkids.ca

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Burney et al1 recently presented an ecological analysis of Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study data to investigate the association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) prevalence and mortality with smoking and poverty. It is striking that no association was observed between the national prevalence rates of COPD and airflow limitation. This raises serious questions about the accuracy of COPD diagnosis, and suggests that COPD was considerably overdiagnosed. Despite this, the authors’ main conclusion is that the high COPD mortality in low-income countries is associated with spirometric restriction, but the case for this is unconvincing.

There are several methodological reasons why the findings need …

View Full Text

Footnotes

  • Contributors SS conceived the idea and wrote the draft letter. TJC revised and edited the letter. JS revised and edited the letter. PHQ conceived the idea and revised and edited the letter. All authors have given permission to submit this work. SS will act as the guarantor.

  • Competing interests The authors declare that as members of the Global Lung Function Initiative they have a competing interest.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

Linked Articles

  • Respiratory epidemiology
    Peter Burney Anamika Jithoo Bernet Kato Christer Janson David Mannino Ewa Niżankowska-Mogilnicka Michael Studnicka Wan Tan Eric Bateman Ali Koçabas William M Vollmer Thorarrin Gislason Guy Marks Parvaiz A Koul Imed Harrabi Louisa Gnatiuc Sonia Buist for the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) Study NanShan Zhong Shengming Liu Jiachun Lu Pixin Ran Dali Wang Jingping Zheng Yumin Zhou Ali Kocabaş Attila Hancioglu Ismail Hanta Sedat Kuleci Ahmet Sinan Turkyilmaz Sema Umut Turgay Unalan Michael Studnicka Torkil Dawes Bernd Lamprecht Lea Schirhofer Eric Bateman Anamika Jithoo Desiree Adams Edward Barnes Jasper Freeman Anton Hayes Sipho Hlengwa Christine Johannisen Mariana Koopman Innocentia Louw Ina Ludick Alta Olckers Johanna Ryck Janita Storbeck Thorarinn Gislason Bryndis Benedikdtsdottir Kristin Jörundsdottir Lovisa Gudmundsdottir Sigrun Gudmundsdottir Gunnar Gundmundsson Ewa Nizankowska-Mogilnicka Jakub Frey Rafal Harat Filip Mejza Pawel Nastalek Andrzej Pajak Wojciech Skucha Andrzej Szczeklik Magda Twardowska Tobias Welte Isabelle Bodemann Henning Geldmacher Alexandra Schweda-Linow Amund Gulsvik Tina Endresen Lene Svendsen Wan C Tan Wen Wang David M Mannino John Cain Rebecca Copeland Dana Hazen Jennifer Methvin Renato B Dantes Lourdes Amarillo Lakan U Berratio Lenora C Fernandez Norberto A Francisco Gerard S Garcia Teresita S de Guia Luisito F Idolor Sullian S Naval Thessa Reyes Camilo C Roa Ma Flordeliza Sanchez Leander P Simpao Christine Jenkins Guy Marks Tessa Bird Paola Espinel Kate Hardaker Brett Toelle Peter G J Burney Caron Amor James Potts Michael Tumilty Fiona McLean E F M Wouters G J Wesseling Cristina Bárbara Fátima Rodrigues Hermínia Dias João Cardoso João Almeida Maria João Matos Paula Simão Moutinho Santos Reis Ferreira Christer Janson Inga Sif Olafsdottir Katarina Nisser Ulrike Spetz-Nyström Gunilla Hägg Gun-Marie Lund Rain Jõgi Hendrik Laja Katrin Ulst Vappu Zobel Toomas-Julius Lill Parvaiz A Koul Sajjad Malik Nissar A Hakim Umar Hafiz Khan Rohini Chowgule Vasant Shetye Jonelle Raphael Rosel Almeda Mahesh Tawde Rafiq Tadvi Sunil Katkar Milind Kadam Rupesh Dhanawade Umesh Ghurup Imed Harrabi Myriam Denguezli Zouhair Tabka Hager Daldoul Zaki Boukheroufa Firas Chouikha Wahbi Belhaj Khalifa Luisito F Idolor Teresita S de Guia Norberto A Francisco Camilo C Roa Fernando G Ayuyao Cecil Z Tady Daniel T Tan Sylvia Banal-Yang Vincent M Balanag Maria Teresita N Reyes Renato B Dantes Sundeep Salvi Siddhi Hirve Bill Brashier Jyoti Londhe Sapna Madas Somnath Sambhudas Bharat Chaidhary Meera Tambe Savita Pingale Arati Umap Archana Umap Nitin Shelar Sampada Devchakke Sharda Chaudhary Suvarna Bondre Savita Walke Ashleshsa Gawhane Anil Sapkal Rupali Argade Vijay Gaikwad R O Crapo R L Jensen Paul Enright Georg Harnoncourt
  • PostScript
    Peter Burney Bernet Kato Christer Janson David Mannino Michael Studnicka Wan Tan Eric Bateman Ali Koçabas William M Vollmer Thorarrin Gislason Guy Marks Parvaiz A Koul Louisa Gnatiuc Sonia Buist