Abstract

Epameinondas N. Kosmas1,2, Silvia Dumitru1,2, Konstantinos Kougianos1,2, Elpida Theodorakopoulou1,2, Maria Harikiopoulou1,2, Ourania Anagnostopoulou1,2, Michail Toumbis1,2, Nikolaos M. Siafakas1,3, and Nikolaos Tzanakis1,3

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) lacks public recognition despite its high prevalence. Given the absence of an awareness assessing disease-specific questionnaire, we developed the 10-item Athens COPD awareness questionnaire (10-ACAQ, with 4 demographic and 6 COPD-oriented questions) in an attempt to assess the level of public awareness on COPD in 2002. Then, a 6-year action plan (2003 to 2008) was designed to raise public awareness, which consisted of publishing relevant articles in newspapers/magazines, interviews/presentations in TV/radio, talking to public and educating primary care physicians. With the use of 10- ACAQ, we evaluated the impact of our action plan on raising public awareness during the World COPD days of 2005, 2007 and 2008. In 2002, 228 subjects completed the 10-ACAQ. 47% had heard about the disease but only 13% was really aware of COPD. In 2005, 2007 and 2008, the 10-ACAQ was administered to 298, 239 and 258 citizens respectively. The level of public knowledge on COPD increased significantly from 13% (2002) to 29, 45 and 55% respectively (p<0.001). In conclusion, substantial improvement in public awareness level on COPD has been accomplished through a continuum of activities targeting mass media and primary care physicians. The 10-ACAQ appears to be an easy-to-use and valid questionnaire to evaluate public knowledge on COPD.