Meta-Analysis Of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Prevalence and Management In Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstract

This research study aimed to access the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by the data taken from hospitals of Islamabad and to determine the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in particular selected sectors of Islamabad using spirometry as a tool. Understanding the importance of the adherence to standard protocols in the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment. The study was carried out between September, 2023 to June, 2024 at several sectors in the capital city of Pakistan, also data from past 5 years (2019- 2023) was used to check the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Islamabad. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease outpatients were classified into different risk groups (ABCD) based on the current available Guidelines for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease strategy 2021. Follow residual criteria assessment of severity of the disease and the prescribed treatment in relation to current guidelines, the clinical practices were assessed of physicians managing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In the analysis, 275 patients with majority of males 70.91%. All patients were mainly Islamabad residents. The most prescribed therapy was a combination of longacting beta agonist with an oral medicine long-acting muscarinic antagonist which was prescribed to 18.55% of patients while 18.55% received long-acting muscarinic antagonist in a different inhaler with long-acting beta agonist, 18.55% received longacting muscarinic antagonist only; while Long-acting beta agonist and Inhaled conic steroid was the least prescribed at 14.91%. The most improperly referred were in Group A 59 %. This study set out to investigate prescription trends in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, acknowledging the importance of standardized treatment recommendations in the management of the condition. Compliance with the Guidelines for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease guidelines among pulmonologists is suboptimal and requires improvement. In addition, there is the somewhat surprising fact that LABA, which is the most commonly prescribed therapy, is in only a small part of compliance to the guideline