Continuing to Confront COPD International Surveys: comparison of patient and physician perceptions about COPD risk and management

Abstract

Ana M Menezes,1 Sarah H Landis,2 MeiLan K Han,3 Hana Muellerova,2 Zaurbek Aisanov,4 Thys van der Molen,5 Yeon-Mok Oh,6 Masakazu Ichinose,7 David M Mannino,8 Kourtney J Davis9 1Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil; 2Worldwide Epidemiology, GlaxoSmithKline, Uxbridge, UK; 3Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 4Pulmonology Research Institute, Moscow, Russia; 5University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; 6University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea; 7Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan; 8University of Kentucky College of Public Health, Lexington, KY, USA; 9Worldwide Epidemiology, GlaxoSmithKline, Wavre, Belgium Purpose: Using data from the Continuing to Confront COPD International Physician and Patient Surveys, this paper describes physicians’ attitudes and beliefs regarding chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) prognosis, and compares physician and patient perceptions with respect to COPD. Methods: In 12 countries worldwide, 4,343 patients with COPD were identified through systematic screening of population samples, and 1,307 physicians who regularly saw patients with COPD were sampled from in-country professional databases. Both patients and physicians completed surveys about their COPD knowledge, beliefs, and perceptions; physicians answered further questions about diagnostic methods and treatment choices for COPD. Results: Most physicians (79%) responded that the long-term health outlook for patients with COPD has improved over the past decade, largely attributed to the introduction of better medications. However, patient access to medication remains an issue in many countries, and some physicians (39%) and patients (46%) agreed/strongly agreed with the statement “there are no truly effective treatments for COPD”. There was strong concordance between physicians and patients regarding COPD management practices, including the use of spirometry (86% of physicians and 76% of patients reporting they used/had undergone a spirometry test) and smoking cessation counseling (76% of physicians reported they counseled their smoking patients at every clinic visit, and 71% of smoking patients stated that they had received counseling in the past year). However, the groups differed in their perception about the role of smoking in COPD, with 78% of physicians versus 38% of patients strongly agreeing with the statement “smoking is the cause of most cases of COPD”. Conclusion: The Continuing to Confront COPD International Surveys demonstrate that while physicians and patients largely agreed about COPD management practices and the need for more effective treatments for COPD, a gap exists about the causal role of smoking in COPD. Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, physician survey, patient survey, beliefs, perceptions