International Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology

International Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology ISSN 2326-7291 Vol. 8 (3), pp. 001-007, March, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Assessment of public awareness on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Athens, Greece, and the effects of an awareness-raising national action plan

Epameinondas N. Kosmas^1,2, Silvia Dumitru^1,2, Konstantinos Kougianos^1,2, Elpida Theodorakopoulou^1,2, Maria Harikiopoulou^1,2, Ourania Anagnostopoulou^1,2 , Michail Toumbis^1,2, Nikolaos M. Siafakas^1,3, and Nikolaos Tzanakis^1,3

¹Hellenic Thoracic Society, Athens, Greece.

²Chest Diseases Hospital “Sotiria”, Athens, Greece.

³University Hospital of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.

Accepted 23 February, 2019

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) lacks public recognition despite its high prevalence. Given the absence of an awareness assessing disease-specific questionnaire, we developed the 10-item Athens COPD awareness questionnaire (10-ACAQ, with 4 demographic and 6 COPD-oriented questions) in an attempt to assess the level of public awareness on COPD in 2002. Then, a 6-year action plan (2003 to 2008) was designed to raise public awareness, which consisted of publishing relevant articles in newspapers/magazines, interviews/presentations in TV/radio, talking to public and educating primary care physicians. With the use of 10-ACAQ, we evaluated the impact of our action plan on raising public awareness during the World COPD days of 2005, 2007 and 2008. In 2002, 228 subjects completed the 10-ACAQ. 47% had heard about the disease but only 13% was really aware of COPD. In 2005, 2007 and 2008, the 10-ACAQ was administered to 298, 239 and 258 citizens respectively. The level of public knowledge on COPD increased significantly from 13% (2002) to 29, 45 and 55% respectively (p<0.001). In conclusion, substantial improvement in public awareness level on COPD has been accomplished through a continuum of activities targeting mass media and primary care physicians. The 10-ACAQ appears to be an easy-to-use and valid questionnaire to evaluate public knowledge on COPD.

Key words: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), public awareness, COPD awareness questionnaire.