Response to a questionnaire on chronic bronchitic symptoms in East Anglia.

The prevalence of has been shown to be greater in urban than in rural areas (Higgins, Cochrane, Gilson, and Wood, 1959; College of General Practitioners, 1961), but chest physicians in East Anglia were of the opinion that was more prevalent in their rural areas than had hitherto been believed. In 1961 the Chest Diseases Advisory Committee recom mended to the Research Committee of the East Anglian Regional Hospital Board that a survey be carried out to determine and compare the prevalence of symptoms of in different areas of the region. The symptom complex of has been variously defined. In 1960 the Medical Research Council Committee on the aetiology of issued a Questionnaire on Respiratory Symptoms in which it was inferred that persistence of cough, productive of sputum, on most days for 3 months each year was, in the absence of other known cause, indicative of bronchitis. The East Anglian Survey reported here used this criterion to estimate the prevalence of bronchitis. The results are compared with other surveys. The survey obtained information on the following points: (1) The degree of co-operation from householders in returning letters of inquiry. (2) The accuracy of a written self-applied question naire on respiratory symptoms compared with a similar questionnaire applied later by a doctor at a clinical interview. (3) The comparison of a clinical diagnosis of chronic bronchitis with a diagnosis based on symptoms alone. (4) The prevalence of in East Anglia.