Objective: To investigate the smoking prevalence and explore the smoking duration (pack-years), which are relevant to potential lung function changes among adult men smoker in a poverty-stricken coastal fishing community.

Materials and Methods: This community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in 371 adult men living in ten coastal fishing communities. Self-administered questionnaires, physical examinations, and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) were used to collect data. The diagnostic criteria of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) over forced vital capacity (FVC) of less than 70%, and obstructive ventilatory defect (OVD) was indicated by FEV₁ over FVC of less than 80% or FEV₁ of less than 80% of the predicted value (%predicted).

Results: The present study revealed that half of smokers had a pack-years of 20 years or less (24.3±12.7). The group with a packyears of more than 30 years had the lowest mean spirometric index. The statistics showed a difference in the mean spirometric index between every group of pack-years. Only the mean predicted FEV₁% and the FVC indices showed differences between the less than 20 years group (G1) and the 20 to 30 years group (G2), and between G1 and the more than 30 years group (G3). The OVD prevalence was 21.2%, and the COPD prevalence was 1.2%.

Conclusion: The smoking situation in the present study area was serious. Long pack-years clearly affected potential lung function. The OVD prevalence was low, but COPD was still not a serious health problem. The promotion of smoking cessation among early OVD patients is very important, and it could reverse the effects of COPD.

Keywords: COPD, Smoker, Coastal fishing community, Southernmost Thailand

Received 28 Oct 2019 | Revised 2 Jan 2020 | Accepted 3 Jan 2020