查看文章

Persons with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and/or asthma have great risk for morbidity. There has been sparse state-specific surveillance data to estimate the impact of COPD or COPD with concomitant asthma (overlap syndrome) on health-related impairment. The North Carolina (NC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) was used to assess relationships between COPD and asthma with health impairment indicators. Five categories [COPD, current asthma, former asthma, overlap syndrome, and neither] were defined for 24,073 respondents. Associations of these categories with health impairments (physical or mental disability, use of special equipment, mental or physical distress) and with co-morbidities (diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and high blood pressure) were assessed. Fifteen percent of NC adults reported a COPD and/or …