Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May 19;17(5):e0268772.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268772. eCollection 2022.

Prevalence, incidence, morbidity and mortality rates of COPD in Saudi Arabia: Trends in burden of COPD from 1990 to 2019

Jaber S Alqahtani  1   2
Affiliations

Prevalence, incidence, morbidity and mortality rates of COPD in Saudi Arabia: Trends in burden of COPD from 1990 to 2019

Jaber S Alqahtani. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The available data to determine the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) burden in Saudi Arabia are scarce. Therefore, this study closely examines and tracks the trends of the COPD burden in Saudi Arabia from 1990 to 2019 using the dataset of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019.

Methods: This study used the GBD 2019 dataset to analyse the COPD prevalence, incidence, morbidity and mortality rates in the Saudi Arabian population from 1990 to 2019, stratified by sex and age. The age-standardised rate was used to determine the prevalence, incidence, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and deaths.

Results: In 2019, an estimated 434,560.64 people (95% Uncertainty Interval (UI) 396,011.72-473,596.71) had COPD in Saudi Arabia, corresponding to an increase of 329.82% compared with the number of diagnosed people in 1990 [101,104.05 (95% UI 91,334.4-111,223.91)]. The prevalence rate of COPD increased by 49%, from 1,381.26 (1,285.35-1,484.96) cases per 100,000 in 1990 to 2,053.04 (1918.06-2194.29) cases per 100,000 in 2019, and this trend was higher in males than females. The incidence rate of COPD in 2019 was 145.06 (136.62-154.76) new cases per 100,000, representing an increase of 43.4% from the 1990 incidence rate [101.18 (95.27-107.86)]. In 2019, the DALYs rate was 508.15 (95% UI 434.85-581.58) per 100,000 population. This was higher in males than females, with a 14.12% increase among males. In 2019, YLLs contributed to 63.6% of DALYs due to COPD. The death rate due to COPD was 19.6 (95% UI 15.94-23.39) deaths per 100 000 in 2019, indicating a decrease of 41.44% compared with the death rate in 1990 [33.55 deaths per 100 000 (95% UI 25.13-47.69)]. In 2019, COPD deaths accounted for 1.65% (1.39-1.88) of the total of deaths in Saudi Arabia and 57% of all deaths caused by chronic respiratory diseases.

Conclusion: Over the period 1990-2019, the prevalence and incidence of COPD in Saudi Arabia have been steadily rising. Even though COPD morbidity and death rates have been decreasing, they remain higher in men and older age. The holistic assessment and interventions with careful attention to optimising the community-based primary care management, such as screening for early diagnosis, smoking cessation programs and pulmonary rehabilitation, are likely to be the most successful strategies to reduce the burden of COPD in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Trends in the age-standardised prevalence rate of COPD during 1990–2019 in Saudi Arabia, stratified by gender.
Fig 2
Fig 2. The prevalence rate of COPD in Saudi Arabia (1990 and 2019), stratified by age.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Trends in the age-standardised incidence rate of COPD during 1990–2019 in Saudi Arabia, stratified by gender.
Fig 4
Fig 4. The incidence rate of COPD in Saudi Arabia (1990 and 2019), stratified by age.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Trends in the age-standardised DALYs rate of COPD during 1990–2019 in Saudi Arabia, stratified by gender.
Fig 6
Fig 6. The DALYs rate of COPD in Saudi Arabia (1990 and 2019), stratified by age.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Trends in the age-standardised death rate of COPD during 1990–2019 in Saudi Arabia, stratified by gender.
Fig 8
Fig 8. The death rate of COPD in Saudi Arabia (1990 and 2019), stratified by age.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Eisner MD, Anthonisen N, Coultas D, Kuenzli N, Perez-Padilla R, Postma D, et al.. An official American Thoracic Society public policy statement: Novel risk factors and the global burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010;182(5):693–718. doi: 10.1164/rccm.200811-1757ST - DOI - PubMed
    1. Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease. Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. 2021 [https://goldcopd.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/GOLD-2020-POCKET-GUIDE-F....
    1. Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet. 2020;396(10258):1204–22. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30925-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. The Global Economic Burden of Non-communicable Diseases 2011 [www.weforum.org/EconomicsOfNCD.
    1. Hurst JR, Siddharthan T. Global Burden of COPD: Prevalence, Patterns, and Trends. Handbook of Global Health. 2020:1–20.