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Contact: Georgia Ball, Tel: 020 7345 3599
1st March 2001, Aberdeen, Scotland. The International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG) will today hold the first international meeting to identify primary care research into COPD to improve the management of the disease worldwide.
This meeting of the IPCRG will bring together primary care professionals from 14 countries worldwide in order to identify primary care research initiatives in COPD. Topics to be examined will include depression and anxiety, diagnosis, self-management, health economics and guidelines in primary care.Professor Van Der Molen, Chairman of the IPCRG,
said: “This is the first time a group of international primary
care physicians have joined together to study respiratory disease
and work to improve the care of respiratory disease worldwide. Primary
care practitioners are the first people to see patients and have
more on-going contact than any other professional. It is imperative
that we update our knowledge to provide the care necessary in what
is a debilitating condition.”
The Group formed in June 2000 in order to widen the focus of national groups such as the General Practitioners in Airways Group (GPIAG) who initially worked primarily in asthma but has recently started to focus also on the impact of COPD in primary care. The IPCRG intends to cover all respiratory disease and will be the representative body for 14 national primary care respirology groups throughout the world.
Dr David Price from the Aberdeen Primary Care Respiratory Research Group, who will be leading the IPCRG research programme, commented on the decision to focus on COPD: “COPD is an obvious place for the IPCRG to start research. It is clear that COPD has a huge impact on general practice and the IPCRG hopes to address issues arising in order to improve efficiencies in primary care for patients with COPD throughout the world.”COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is a chronic respiratory disorder characterised by progressive airflow limitation, accompanied by shortness of breath, cough, wheezing and increased sputum production. Patients are unable to perform normal daily activities and feel as if they have permanent difficulty breathing. COPD comprises such diseases as chronic obstructive bronchitis and emphysema. Its most common cause is smoking. It is estimated that 1 out of 5 smokers (between 10-20 %) will develop the disease.
COPD is a major socio-economic burden according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 600 million people suffer from COPD, many of them remaining undiagnosed today. Approximately three million die from the disease each year. COPD is the sixth leading cause of death worldwide affecting 4-6 % of people. It is also the fastest growing cause of death and disability worldwide for the next 2-3 decades, as predicted by WHO. The US National Institute of Health (NIH) recently calculated that the total costs related to COPD in the US are $30.4 billion including direct health care costs and indirect costs for mortality and morbidity. As a comparison, respective costs for asthma in the US are estimated at less than 50 % of those for COPD. Other US data showed recently that direct health care costs for COPD were almost three times higher than those for lung cancer. Global figures on the financial burden of COPD are not yet published.Notes:
- The meeting is being held at the University
of Aberdeen on 1st and 2nd March 2001
- The International Primary Care Respiratory
Group consists of the following members
- GPIAG (UK)
- CAHAG (Netherlands)
- Grupo Respiratoria (Spain)
- Lunger i Praksis (Norway)
- Swedish GP Asthma Group
- Irish GPs in Asthma Group
- Danish Respiratory Group
- National Asthma Council (Australia)
- New Zealand Respiratory Group
For further information about the meeting, please
contact Professor David Price
GPIAG Professor of Primary Care Respiratory Medicine
Dept of General Practice and Primary Care
University of Aberdeen
Fosterhill Health Centre
Westburn Road
Aberdeen
AB25 2AY
Tel: 01224 663 123 extn 54588 or direct line 01224 554588
Fax: 01224 840683
email: d.price@abdn.ac.uk
This meeting is sponsored by an educational grant by Boehringer Ingelheim, who are committed to raising awareness and understanding of COPD worldwide.