Prevalence and Risk Factors of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Bangladesh: A Systematic Review

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) including Bangladesh. But no systematic review has been carried out in Bangladesh, which portraits the burden of COPD and its risk factors. Therefore, this systematic review was conducted to find out the prevalence and risk factors of COPD in Bangladesh. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Popline, and Banglajol from January 1, 1972 to April 30, 2017. We included studies that reported the prevalence and/or risk factors of COPD among Bangladeshi people. Two researchers independently searched and screened all the articles and extracted data from nine eligible studies. The whole process was verified by another researcher. Quality assessment was performed using a checklist adopted from published articles on quality assessment guidelines of observational studies. Discrepancies were resolved by consensus. Data analysis was done thematically. The pooled COPD prevalence among Bangladeshi adult was 12.5% (95% CI, 10.9-14.1) using the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria and 11.9% (95% CI, 11.4-13.6) using the lower limit of the normality (LLN) criteria. The prevalence was higher among males, low socio-economic group, rural residents, and biomass fuel users. Tobacco consumption, exposure to biomass fuel, old age, and history of asthma were identified as major risk factors of COPD. COPD prevalence is high in Bangladesh. It is a timely need for the policy-makers and public health professionals to take pertinent steps for prevention and control of COPD in Bangladesh.