The role of ambient air quality in the etiology of chronic respiratory diseases, which has been studied in many epidemiologic surveys, is still controversial. However, in the longitudinal study of COPD in Cracow we observed that it had a significant effect. Our conclusion was that in the general population air…
Risk Factors A number of the environmental risk factors have been identified for chronic respiratory diseases; however, little information is available on their presence and impact throughout the whole country. Nevertheless, for 2 of the most preventable risk factors—cigarette consumption, which is unquestionably a very important factor, and atmospheric pollution,…
The information collected in the interviews documented the presence or absence of the following symptoms: chronic cough, chronic phlegm, chronic wheezing independent of fever and chest infections, and attacks of breathlessness independent of effort. The questionnaire also recorded whether a person had been treated by a physician for bronchial asthma….
Mortality The high mortality rate in Poland for bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma in 1970 and 1971 decreased in the subsequent years. There was, however, some upward trend of mortality observed in the first half the 1980s in both sexes aged 45-64 and 65 years and older (Fig 1). In infants…
Chronic airways disease (CAD) has been of interest to epidemiologists in different countries for more than 30 years. Although several comparative studies have been done thus far, more are expected because the magnitude of the problem and its changes over time are not identical in different countries. Our aim is…