In three out of ten “healthy” male smokers between the ages of 40 and 65, Roeland Geijer found a previously undetected, usually mild form of COPD (pulmonary emphysema and chronic bronchitis). Five years later, one in twelve of the participants had developed moderately severe COPD. The risk of developing moderately severe COPD was five times greater in smokers with mild COPD than in smokers with no lung damage. Increasing age, smoking before the age of sixteen, and the respiratory complaints were risk factors for developing moderately severe COPD. In four out of five smokers who develop moderately severe COPD, these risk factors make an early diagnosis possible. But along with this, one in two smokers who do not develop moderately severe COPD are erroneously characterized as a smoker with an increased risk.
By screening the population of smokers between the ages of 45 and 64, 195,000 new cases of COPD with primarily mild COPD could be found in a single year, while active detection among smokers who visit their general practitioners with respiratory complaints could identify more than 78,000 new cases of COPD. However, the costs and benefits of active detection and smoking cessation treatment for those people with new cases of COPD in general practices are considerably more favorable compared with those of a population screening.
Roeland Geijer
Detection of COPD in smokers
PhD advisor 1: Prof. T.J.M. Verheij
PhD advisor 2: Prof. A.W. Hoes
Co-advisor: Dr. A.P.E. Sachs