A population-based analysis of spirometry use and the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in lung cancer

BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer are associated diseases. COPD is underdiagnosed and thus undertreated, but there is limited data on COPD diagnosis in the setting of lung cancer. We assessed the diagnosis of COPD with lung cancer in a large public healthcare system.MethodsAnonymous administrative data was acquired from ICES, which links demographics, hospital records, physician billing, and cancer registry …