Respiratory medicine
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Respiratory medicine · Dec 1998
Prevalence of obstructive lung diseases and respiratory symptoms in southern Sweden.
The prevalence of obstructive lung diseases is increasing in Scandinavia and worldwide. The reasons for this are not known. The prevalence varies between countries but also between different areas within the same country. ⋯ Chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema was reported by 4.6% (n = 392), 28.6% of whom reported a family history of chronic bronchitis or emphysema compared to 6.8% of the study sample not reporting chronic bronchitis. The most common respiratory symptom in the study population was 'phlegm when coughing' reported by 15.1% (n = 1279). Our data show a prevalence of self-reported asthma of 5.5% compared with 7% reported by Lunbäck et al. in northern Sweden, which indicates a north-south gradient.