Prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its associated factors among adults in Abeshge District, Ethiopia: a cross sectional study

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the major public health problems worldwide. Despite an increasing burden of COPD in the world, it is often a neglected disease in low income countries and COPD prevalence studies are rare in Sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of COPD and its associated factors among adults in Ethiopia. Methods A community based cross sectional study was conducted from February 5 to May 20, 2019 in Abeshge district, Southern Ethiopia. A total of 734 adults aged at least 30 years were selected using multistage cluster sampling technique and included in the study. All participants were interviewed about socio-demographic characteristics, respiratory symptoms, smoking status and clinical characteristics. Moreover, all participants underwent spirometry. We defined COPD as a post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC of less than 70%. Data were entered into Epi-data manager 4.4 and analyzed using SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analysis were used and p-value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results Of the 779 adults invited to participate, 734 adults (421 men and 313 women) were participated in this study. The mean (SD) age of the participants was 39.15 (± 9.36) years, within the age range of 30–75 years. The prevalence of COPD was 17.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 15.1–20.6). Factors significantly associated with COPD were age above 50 years (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.91, 95% CI [1.10, 3.30]), being smoker (AOR = 4.54, 95% CI [2.69, 7.66]), Exposed to biomass smoke (AOR = 2.05, 95% CI [1.06, 3.95]) and poor ventilated kitchen (AOR = 4.12, 95% CI [2.67, 6.34]). Conclusion It is evident from this study that the prevalence of COPD in Ethiopia is high. Factors such as old age, cigarette smoking, exposure to biomass smoke and poor kitchen ventilation plays a role in the development of COPD.