National trend in the prevalence and mortality of COPD in South Korea from 2008 to 2017

Background Existing studies on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Korea lack full population coverage, relying on small sample sizes. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the prevalence and mortality of COPD in the entire Korean population.Methods This serial cross-sectional study used national databases, linking the National Health Information Database (2008–2017) with Causes of Death Statistics. Identification of individuals with COPD used diagnostic codes (International Classification of Diseases-10: J41–J44) or a history of COPD-related hospitalisation, focusing on adults aged 40 and above. Prevalence and mortality rates, calculated for 2008–2017, encompassed both crude and age-standardised and sex-standardised measures. A multivariate Poisson regression model estimated the association between COPD and all-cause and cause-specific mortality, presenting incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% CIs, using data from the year 2017.Results Age-adjusted COPD prevalence exhibited a notable increase from 2008 (7.9%) to 2017 (16.7%) in both sexes. The prevalences of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, ischaemic heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis and tuberculosis were higher in the COPD group than in the group without COPD (p for all