Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Hispanics. A 9-Year Update

Health and Demographic Factors for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Among Hispanic Adults in the United States: Analysis of Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data

Introduction: Appropriate diagnosis and regular primary care appointments are markers of quality chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care. Underdiagnosis of COPD has been associated with an absence of health insurance, lower socioeconomic status, and race and ethnicity. Methods: This study examined predictors of COPD using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS, 2021) to provide information for prevention messaging and interventions. Participants included Hispanic adults (n = 17,782) aged 45 years and older. Chi-square tests and a multinomial logistic regression analysis (adjusted with the BRFSS weighting variable) were used to understand how sex, income, health status, smoking behaviors, asthma morbidity, and health insurance coverage were related to having COPD. Results: Patients with poor health, lower income level, current smokers, former smokers, or asthma were more likely to report COPD. Females were more likely to report COPD than males. Patients with COPD were more likely to be without health insurance when compared to those who did not have COPD, indicating unmet medical needs. Conclusion: Studies such as this one, aiming to evaluate the relationship between COPD prevalence and predictors of health and outcomes among Hispanic patients in the United States will remain important for developing health messaging to attenuate disease progression.

The Current State of Health Inequities in COPD

An understanding of the health inequities that surround the treatment and prevention of COPD is required to address the barriers that hinder improvement of care for underserved populations. This scoping review was conducted to identify the existing evidence of social factors that affect the health, health-care access, and health-care quality of patients with COPD within the United States, and to identify gaps in knowledge to help direct future research. We followed the guidelines from the Joanna Briggs Institute and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews. In July 2022, a literature search by using Ovid (Embase) and MEDLINE (PubMed) databases was conducted to identify articles on COPD, published between 2016 and 2021, written in English, and that investigated at least one health inequity as defined by the National Institutes of Health. All studies were screened for inclusion criteria and were extracted in a masked, duplicate manner. Each health inequity was investigated, extracted, and summarized. Thirty articles were screened in full text, and 19 were found to meet inclusion criteria. Common social factors investigated in the COPD literature included race/ethnicity, income, and education. Since the implementation of the National Institutes of Health's sex and gender minority category in 2016, only one study within our sample examined LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer [or sometimes questioning], and others) patients with COPD. The least commonly investigated social factors that affect patients with COPD were rural/under-resourced (geography), sex and gender, and LGBTQ+ affiliation. In addition, occupational status was not investigated by any included studies in our sample. Our scoping review underlines the lack of research with regard to inequities that affect patients with COPD. We propose researching hormone replacement therapy's impact on lung function in transgender and nonbinary patients with COPD. Implementation science studies are suggested to enhance intervention for COPD medication adherence among racial/ethnic minority groups, given the intersectionalities of social factors that disproportionately affect this population. We, also recommend developing telemedicine pulmonary rehabilitation technology for rurally located patients with COPD.

Hypothesized Explanations for the Observed Lung Cancer Survival Benefit Among Hispanics/Latinos in the United States

Hispanic/Latino ethnicity is associated with improved survival from non-small cell lung cancer compared to that for non-Hispanic Whites even though Hispanics/Latinos are more likely to potentially have inferior access-to-care and experience greater health disparities. To this end, we conducted a literature review to identify possible explanations for this survival benefit, including the role of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiovascular diseases, genetic variation, cultural influences, and immigration factors. Overall, intermittent smoking patterns, genetic variation, co-morbidities, and cultural influences were all factors likely to partially explain this survival benefit. On the other hand, immigration factors, acculturation, and access-to-care were less likely to support the survival advantage. Future research should analyze relevant Hispanic/Latino subgroups (e.g., Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central American, South American) and specifically focus on the relationship between Hispanic/Latino ethnicity and different lung cancer subtypes. If the Hispanic/Latino mortality benefit observed in lung cancer truly exists, a better understanding of the underlying mechanism(s) may help extend these benefits to other ethnic and racial groups.

Prevalence and Population Attributable Risk for Early Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in U.S. Hispanic/Latino Individuals

Rationale: In predominantly White populations, early chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (i.e., COPD in people aged <50 yr) has been linked to higher hospitalization rates and mortality; however, the prevalence, risk factors, and population attributable risk (PAR) of early COPD remain to be determined in non-White populations. Objectives: We aimed to examine the prevalence, risk factors, and PARs of early COPD among Hispanic/Latino individuals, the largest U.S. minority group. Methods: We used baseline data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, a population-based probability sample of 16,415 Hispanic/Latino individuals aged 18-74 years. Participants aged <50 years were included (N = 7,323). Early COPD was defined as a forced expiratory volume in 1 second to forced vital capacity ratio less than the lower limit of normal. We used survey logistic regression analysis to identify risk factors and estimate the prevalence of early COPD. PARs of the risk factors identified were estimated. Results: A total of 524 participants met the criteria for early COPD, yielding a sex- and age-adjusted prevalence of 7.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.8-8.6). Asthma (odds ratio [OR], 3.37; 95% CI, 2.57-4.41), smoking status (ever vs. never; OR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.24-2.20), and chronic sinusitis (OR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.09-2.66) were associated with increased odds of early COPD. Immigrants versus U.S.-born individuals have lower odds of early COPD (age at immigration <15 yr and living in the United States <10 yr; OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.39-2.27; age at immigration <15 yr and living in the United States ⩾10 yr; OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.37-0.84; age at immigration ⩾15 yr and living in the United States <10 yr; OR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.57-1.30; and age at immigration ⩾15 yr and living in the United States ⩾10 yr; OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.42-0.95). Among smokers, pack-years was not associated with early COPD (5-9.9 vs. <5 pack-years; OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.59-1.82; ⩾10 vs. <5 pack-years; OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 0.74-1.94). The mean PAR for asthma, smoking status, and chronic sinusitis was 26.3% (95% CI, 22.1-30.3), 22.4% (95% CI, 17.4-27.1), and 6.9% (95% CI, 4.3-9.4), respectively. Conclusions: Among U.S. Hispanic/Latino individuals, asthma is one of the most important risk factors for early COPD, followed by smoking and chronic sinusitis. Immigrants appear to have a lower risk of early COPD than U.S.-born Hispanic/Latino individuals.

Amerindian Ancestry Influences Genetic Susceptibility to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

The contribution of genetic ancestry on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) predisposition remains unclear. To explore this relationship, we analyzed the associations between 754,159 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and risk of COPD (n = 214 cases, 193 healthy controls) in Talca, Chile, considering the genetic ancestry and established risk factors. The proportion of Mapuche ancestry (PMA) was based on a panel of 45 Mapuche reference individuals. Five PRDM15 SNPs and two PPP1R12B SNPs were associate with COPD risk (p = 0.05 to 5×10^-4) in those individuals with lower PMA. Based on linkage disequilibrium and sliding window analyses, an adjacent PRDM15 SNPs were associated with COPD risk in the lower PMA group (p = 10^-3 to 3.77×10^-8). Our study is the first to report an association between PPP1R12B and COPD risk, as well as effect modification between ethnicity and PRDM15 SNPs in determining COPD risk. Our results are biologically plausible given that PPP1R12B and PRDM15 are involved in immune dysfunction and autoimmunity, providing mechanistic evidence for COPD pathogenesis and highlighting the importance to conduct more genome wide association studies (GWAS) in admixed populations with Amerindian descent.

Association of birthplace and occupational exposures with chronic bronchitis in US Hispanics/Latinos, 2008-2011

OBJECTIVES

In the US, chronic bronchitis (CB) is common and is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Data on CB in the Hispanic/Latino population-a large, diverse US minority-are scarce. We aimed to test whether the prevalence of CB varies across Hispanic/Latino heritages and to identify CB risk factors, including occupational exposures, in this population.

METHODS

We analysed data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, a US population-based probability sample of participants aged 18-74 years (n=16 415) including those with Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, Central American and South American heritages. Participants who had a completed respiratory questionnaire and valid spirometric data were included in the analysis (n=13 259). CB, place of birth, heritage, occupational exposures and other risk factors were based on standardised questionnaires. The prevalence of CB was estimated using survey logistic regression-conditional marginal analysis.

RESULTS

The estimated (mean (95% CI)) overall adjusted prevalence of CB was 12.1% (9.3 to 15.6), with a large variation across heritages. Dominican heritage had a fivefold higher prevalence than South American heritage. US-born participants had a higher adjusted prevalence than their non-US-born counterparts (16.8% (12.5 to 22.1) vs 11.0% (8.5 to 14.10); p=0.022). Compared with non-exposed participants, those exposed to cleaning or disinfecting solutions had a higher adjusted prevalence of CB (12.6% (9.1 to 17.1) vs 11.8% (9.2 to 15.1); p=0.024).

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of CB was higher among Dominicans than other Hispanic/Latino heritages. CB was more prevalent among US-born participants and those exposed to cleaning and disinfecting solutions.

An effective approach for CT lung segmentation using mask region-based convolutional neural networks

Computer vision systems have numerous tools to assist in various medical fields, notably in image diagnosis. Computed tomography (CT) is the principal imaging method used to assist in the diagnosis of diseases such as bone fractures, lung cancer, heart disease, and emphysema, among others. Lung cancer is one of the four main causes of death in the world. The lung regions in the CT images are marked manually by a specialist as this initial step is a significant challenge for computer vision techniques. Once defined, the lung regions are segmented for clinical diagnoses. This work proposes an automatic segmentation of the lungs in CT images, using the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) Mask R-CNN, to specialize the model for lung region mapping, combined with supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods (Bayes, Support Vectors Machine (SVM), K-means and Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs)). Our approach using Mask R-CNN with the K-means kernel produced the best results for lung segmentation reaching an accuracy of 97.68 ± 3.42% and an average runtime of 11.2 s. We compared our results against other works for validation purposes, and our approach had the highest accuracy and was faster than some state-of-the-art methods.

A Genome-Wide Association Study in Hispanics/Latinos Identifies Novel Signals for Lung Function. The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

RATIONALE

Lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are heritable traits. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous pulmonary function and COPD loci, primarily in cohorts of European ancestry.

OBJECTIVES

Perform a GWAS of COPD phenotypes in Hispanic/Latino populations to identify loci not previously detected in European populations.

METHODS

GWAS of lung function and COPD in Hispanic/Latino participants from a population-based cohort. We performed replication studies of novel loci in independent studies.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Among 11,822 Hispanic/Latino participants, we identified eight novel signals; three replicated in independent populations of European Ancestry. A novel locus for FEV1 in ZSWIM7 (rs4791658; P = 4.99 × 10-9) replicated. A rare variant (minor allele frequency = 0.002) in HAL (rs145174011) was associated with FEV1/FVC (P = 9.59 × 10-9) in a region previously identified for COPD-related phenotypes; it remained significant in conditional analyses but did not replicate. Admixture mapping identified a novel region, with a variant in AGMO (rs41331850), associated with Amerindian ancestry and FEV1, which replicated. A novel locus for FEV1 identified among ever smokers (rs291231; P = 1.92 × 10-8) approached statistical significance for replication in admixed populations of African ancestry, and a novel SNP for COPD in PDZD2 (rs7709630; P = 1.56 × 10-8) regionally replicated. In addition, loci previously identified for lung function in European samples were associated in Hispanic/Latino participants in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos at the genome-wide significance level.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified novel signals for lung function and COPD in a Hispanic/Latino cohort. Including admixed populations when performing genetic studies may identify variants contributing to genetic etiologies of COPD.