Utility of self-administered questionnaires for identifying individuals at risk of COPD in Japan: The OCEAN (Okinawa COPD casE finding assessmeNt) study

Purpose: A considerable proportion of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remain undiagnosed and untreated even though they may have a burden of respiratory symptoms that impact quality of life. The OCEAN study assessed the ability of screening questionnaires to identify individuals with, or at risk of, COPD by comparing questionnaire outcomes with spirometric measures of lung function. Methods: This observational study included participants ≥40 years of age presenting for their annual health examination at a single medical center in Okinawa, Japan. Participants completed COPD screening questionnaires (CAPTURE and COPD-Q), the Chronic Airways Assessment Test (CAAT), and general demographic and health-related questionnaires. The performance characteristics of CAPTURE and COPD-Q were compared with spirometry-based airflow limitation by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC-AUC) curve. Results: A total of 2518 participants were included in the study; 79% of whom were <60 years of age (mean 52.0 years). A total of 52 (2.1%) participants had airflow limitation defined as forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁)/forced vital capacity (FVC) <0.7, and 420 (16.7%) participants were classified as Preserved Ratio Impaired Spirometry (PRISm). Among participants with PRISm, 75 (17.9%) had a CAAT total score ≥10. Airflow limitation and PRISm were more prevalent in current smokers versus past smokers. For the CAPTURE questionnaire, ROC-AUC for screening airflow limitation, PRISm, and PRISm with a CAAT total score ≥10 were 0.59, 0.55, and 0.69, respectively; for COPD-Q, these three clinical features were 0.67, 0.58 and 0.68, respectively. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that CAPTURE and COPD-Q appear to be effective screening tools for identifying symptomatic individuals with undiagnosed, or at risk of developing COPD in adults ≥40 years of age in Okinawa. Furthermore, early diagnosis and management of PRISm is important to improve future outcomes and the societal burden of disease.