Central Data Catalog

Background: CRDs contribute significantly towards morbidity and mortality in LMICs.

Aim: To perform a scoping review to identify strategies used to conduct surveys for CRDs in LMICs. The findings will inform a future RESPIRE 4-Country ChrOnic Respiratory Disease (4CCORD) study, which will estimate CRD burden in Asian LMICs.

Methods: We conducted a systematic scoping review. The search strategy had three domains: CRDs, prevalence and LMICs. We searched OVID Medline, EMBASE, ISI WoS, Global Health and WHO Global Index Medicus databases from 1995 to 2018, limiting the search to adults. Abstract and full‐text screening, followed by data extraction, were independently conducted by a panel of reviewers. We charted the findings focusing on strategies for random sampling, disease definitions and questionnaires used.

Results: We reviewed 281 articles from 36,872 citations. The majority of articles were from China (n=41). The study design was mainly cross-sectional surveys (n=260). Number of respondents ranged from 50 to 512,891. There were more articles on asthma prevalence (n=144) compared to those on COPD prevalence (n=112). The most commonly used questionnaire was the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (n=47). Asthma was mainly diagnosed on symptoms (100 articles) while COPD diagnosis was based on spirometry (96 articles).

Conclusion: Descriptions for CRDs vary in operational study definitions and instruments. Future surveys should optimise and standardise their methodology in order to provide robust estimates of disease burden.

Method: NIHR RESPIRE Global Health Research Unit and is written on behalf of the RESPIRE collaborators