The awareness of the individual and societal burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) continues to increase. However, data on the impact of the disease in workers are scarce. Nicolas Roche (University René Descartes in Paris, France) and his colleagues studied 5,008 subjects visiting health prevention centres in France. Prevalence of airflow obstruction was 7.5%. A diagnosis of respiratory disease was reported for only 6.1% of these subjects.
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