The Association between Risk Factors and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Canada: A Cross-sectional Study Using the 2014 Canadian Community Health Survey

BACKGROUND: The global prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is expected to increase and the disease is projected to be the third leading cause of death by the year 2020. The purpose of this study was to measure the prevalence and determine the risk factors for COPD in Canada. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study that uses data from a nationally generalizable survey, the Canadian Community Health Survey, 2014. There were 46,924 respondents aged 35 years or older. Uni- and multi-variate logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the risk factors associated with COPD. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of COPD in the surveyed population was 5.69%. Results from multivariate logistic regression showed that COPD was significantly higher among individuals who were 65 years or older (odds ratio [OR] =4.43; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.69–5.33), current smokers (OR = 5.13; 95% CI: 4.43–5.95), underweight or obese by body mass index ([OR = 1.81; 95% CI: 1.38–2.38] and [OR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.41–1.77], respectively), with a total personal income of <$20,000 (OR = 3.67; 95% CI: 2.95–4.57,), and some postsecondary education (OR = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.14–1.76). Immigrants were less likely to have COPD compared to Canadian-born respondents (OR = 0.67; 95% CI: 0.57–0.79). CONCLUSIONS: COPD is a growing and serious public health issue in Canada. The risk factors identified in this study provide useful targets to health promotion and education initiatives, health-care providers, and public health organizations to decrease the prevalence of COPD.