Different features of subjects with airflow obstruction, depending on presence/absence of respiratory symptoms/diseases

Background: a notnegligibleamountofgeneralpopulationhasairflowobstruction (AO)withoutrespiratorysymptoms/diseases. Aim: toassesswhetherdifferentcharacteristicsexistamongsubjectswith AO (FEV1/FVC<0.7),dependingonpresence/absenceofrespiratorysymp- toms/diseasesinanItaliangeneralpopulationsample. Methods: within theEuropeanUnionfundedprojectIMCA2(IndicatorsforMon- itoringCOPDandAsthmaintheEU),asampleof1000subjectslivinginPisa (CentralItaly)wasselected. An informationtechnologytoolallowedtofillinquestionnairesonsocio- demographiccharacteristics,respiratory symptoms/diseases,riskfactorsandto recordspirometry. StatisticalanalyseswereperformedusingthestatisticalpackageSPSS13.0. A multinomiallogisticregression(MLR)analysiswasruntoassessriskfactors forhavingonlyAOwithoutasthma/COPD('AO')andAOwithasthma/COPD symptoms/diseases('AO-aC').Subjectswithout AOwerethereferencecategory.