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Dubai: People in the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries are developing lung disease at a younger age and the trend is set to worsen, researchers warned.
The 46-country Greatest International Antibiotic Trial (Giant) studied the prevalence of acute exacerbate chronic bronchitis (AECB), a form of lung disease, and the effectiveness of Bayer Schering Pharma's antibiotic in treating it.
It found a majority of the 4,300 subjects in the Middle East were reporting the disease at 48.5 years old, the youngest compared to other regions.
The average age for lung disease in Latin America was 63.1 years, followed by Europe at 60.5 and Asia-Pacific with 57.1 years.
Fewer women had AECB than men in the Middle East at 26.6 per cent, the smallest group between regions. Middle Eastern subjects also reported the least severe symptoms with almost 29 per cent having the disease for fewer than five years.
Researchers blamed the trend on smoking.
"We really believe this is related to smoking habits," said Dr Marc Miravitlles, chest physician and senior researcher at Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, Spain. "Women have lower rates of [lung disease] because they tend to smoke less than men," he explained.
Highest rate
According to the study, Middle East patients had the highest rate of smokers with 42.1 per cent and 21.5 former smokers.
In Europe, 30.2 per cent are current smokers, former smokers stand at 30.8 per cent and non-smokers at 37.2 per cent.
Professor Antonio Anzueto of the University of Texas Health Sciences Centre, told Gulf News that some non-smokers developed the disease due to exposure to air pollutants and smoke.
"[For example] 40 per cent of people in Asia-Pacific never smoked, but this region includes China and the air there is very polluted," he said.
He warned the outlook in the Middle East was grim: "What is happening here is what has happened in the US and Europe 20 years ago. There are more women smokers [and] it's going to get worse if nothing changes."
Other Middle East countries in the study include Lebanon, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. The Giant study mirrored previous research on the effects of smoking.
Dr Wael Al Mahmeed, president of Emirates Cardiac Society, told Gulf News he was not surprised by the Giant findings.
"I'm not surprised because people start smoking at a younger age and they smoke more here. By the time they are 30, they start getting sick," he said, adding studies, including the 2006 Interheart study, have shown that Middle Easterners developed heart disease 15 years younger than other regions.
He also called for stricter laws to control all forms of tobacco, including increasing taxes and making it harder to licence a shisha cafe.
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