Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Prevalence Among Nonsmokers by Occupation in the United States

Objective: To examine the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among nonsmokers by occupation in the United States. Methods: The 1997 to 2004 National Health Interview Survey data for working adults aged 25 years or more were used to estimate the COPD prevalence and to examine change in COPD prevalence between 1997 to 2000 and 2001 to 2004 by occupational groups. Results: During 1997 to 2004, COPD prevalence was 2.8%. The COPD prevalence was highest in financial records processing (4.6%) occupations. There was a slight increase in COPD prevalence during the two survey periods from 2.8% during 1997 to 2000 compared with 2.9% during 2001 to 2004. Conclusions: No significant changes in the COPD prevalence between the two periods were found. Nevertheless, the elevated COPD prevalence in certain occupational groups suggests that other risk factors play a role in developing COPD.