Prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in independent community‐dwelling older adults: The Fujiwara‐kyo study

Aim As the Japanese population ages, the number of older patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is expected to increase, but the prevalence of COPD in patients aged ≥80 years remains unclear. The purpose of the present study was to determine the prevalence of COPD in independent community‐dwelling older adults aged ≥80 years. Methods We investigated the prevalence of COPD in 2862 independent community‐dwelling older adults (1504 men, 1358 women, mean age 77.7 ± 7.0 years) who underwent spirometry in the Fujiwara‐kyo study, a study of successful aging in older adults. Those participants with airflow limitation (forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity