The typical epydemiological characteristics of general entities of chronic nonspecific pulmonary diseases in adults

Abstract

The clinical and cpydemiological content of diagnostic terms classifying chronic nonspecific pulmonary diseases keeps on acute discussions. In some countries, diagnosises like “chronic obstructive bronchitis” and “chronic asthm atic bronchitis” are given up.

During 5 years, skilled pulmonologists observed 10 346 patients with bronchial asthma and with three basic entities of chronic bronchitis respecting to International Disease Classification of the IX and X edition. Study conditions were identical for patients with different diagnosises, that allows to concider the disease character as the cause of epydeniologic differences. Epydemiologic characteristics of chronic nonobstructive bronchitis (simple, mucus-mattery), chronic obstructive bronchitis, and bronchial asthma are different cardinally and they existance as independent nosologic forms is right. The diagnosis “chronic obstructive bronchitis” gathers the unhomogenous group of patients which allow to consider on epydcmiologic signs the part of themselves as bronchial asthma ones; the other part of the patients may be related to onset forms of chronic obstructive bronchitis (COB), and most of them differs both from asthma and other forms of chronic bronchitis. The validity of the division of chronic asthmatic bronchitis as a nosologic form demands the additional study of the long time dynamics of clinical signs and the prognosis.