Aquarius Population Health

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a preventable, progressive respiratory disease that causes airflow blockage and breathing problems. COPD caused 3.23 million deaths in 2019 (1), affecting approximately 384 million people globally (2); and is associated with significant resource burden with global costs estimated to be US$2.1 trillion in 2010, rising to US$4.8 trillion by 2030 (3).

Despite the availability of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) recommendations for COPD management, there remains uncertainty around how care is currently delivered within individual countries and what barriers exist to optimal COPD care delivery.

Aquarius Population Health collaborated with AstraZeneca to present our research at a poster session at this year’s European Respiratory Society International Congress. Based on clinician interviews and local data reviews, our research advances our understanding of COPD care pathways in Japan, Canada, England, and Germany and identifies cross-cutting barriers to optimal COPD care. Opportunities for policy change were highlighted – to improve disease awareness, care management and patient outcomes while reducing resource use and costs.

Meiwald A, Gara-Adams R, Ma Y, et al. Analysing the COPD care pathway in Japan, Canada, England and Germany: a global view. Presented at: European Respiratory Society International Congress 2021, September 5 – 8, 2021; Virtual

1.  WHO. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) fact sheet. 2021

2. Adeloye D, Chua S, Lee C, et al. Global and regional estimates of COPD prevalence: Systematic review and meta–analysis. J Glob Health. 2015 ;5(2):020415.

3.  Bloom DE, Cafiero ET, Jané-Llopis E, et al. The Global Economic Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases. Geneva; 2011

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