COPD, Asthma and Pneumothorax as Climate Sensitive Health outcomes

Abstract

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease(COPD), pneumothorax and asthma are climate sensitive diseases contributing a significant proportion of the respiratory disease morbidity. Even when the monsoon rainfall is high, recent years have witnessed an increase in the average temperature in Kerala. The study aims to determine the trends in hospital admissions for these diseases and associated factors during 2011 to 2015 at a tertiary care hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, India. Methods: Record based retrospective study was done at Chest Disease Hospital at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Data regarding the patients admitted from January 2011 to December 2015 was collected and trend analysis was done. Change in occurrence over the 5 year period was estimated and associations with co-existing diseases were determined. Results:A significant difference in the occurrence of COPD cases was seen during the months of July to December when compared between 2011 and 2015 with a significant rise in mean age of occurrence(p<0.001). Similar findings was seen with asthma with seasonally varying occurrences resulting in increased hospital admissions. No such seasonal variation could be seen for pneumothorax. Conclusions: The consistently shifting age patterns and the seasonal variation in occurrences, are in line with evidences from around the world which points to the urgent focus to be given to climate related respiratory diseases. Steady increase in occurrence of asthma and significant association of COPD with several co-morbidities are important areas of concern.