Prevalence of respiratory symptoms and chronic airflow obstruction in the study participants by sex and smoking
| Global | Men | Women | p-value | Smokers | Never-smokers | p-value | |
| Subjects n | 9092 | 4311 | 4781 | 4910 | 4182 | ||
| Chronic cough | 15.9 | 14.9 | 16.8 | 0.0146 | 19.5 | 11.6 | <0.0001 |
| CMH | 13.0 | 15.0 | 11.2 | <0.0001 | 17.0 | 8.3 | <0.0001 |
| Wheezing | 33.7 | 33.6 | 33.8 | 0.7927 | 41.4 | 24.7 | <0.0001 |
| Dyspnoea one floor | 13.1 | 8.3 | 17.5 | <0.0001 | 13.4 | 12.8 | 0.4333 |
| Any dyspnoea | 26.8 | 22.0 | 31.1 | <0.0001 | 27.0 | 26.5 | 0.6041 |
| Dyspnoea mMRC | <0.0001 | 0.9011 | |||||
| 0 | 73.2 | 78.0 | 68.9 | 73.0 | 73.5 | ||
| I | 21.8 | 18.1 | 25.1 | 21.9 | 21.6 | ||
| II | 3.8 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 3.8 | 3.9 | ||
| III | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.0 | ||
| IV | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | ||
| Chronic bronchitis | 4.7 | 5.0 | 4.3 | 0.1387 | 6.7 | 2.3 | <0.0001 |
| Any symptom | 47.5 | 45.5 | 49.4 | 0.0002 | 55.4 | 38.3 | <0.0001 |
| CAT score, mean±sd | 6.4±5.8 | 5.8±5.4 | 6.8±6.1 | <0.0001 | 6.8±5.8 | 5.9±5.7 | <0.0001 |
| CAT >10 | 19.6 | 16.2 | 22.8 | <0.0001 | 21.5 | 17.5 | <0.0001 |
| Asthma | 7.9 | 6.2 | 9.4 | <0.0001 | 6.6 | 9.4 | <0.0001 |
| Chronic airflow limitation (FR) | 11.8 | 14.6 | 9.4 | <0.0001 | 16.0 | 7.0 | <0.0001 |
| Chronic airflow limitation (LLN) | 6.0 | 7.1 | 4.9 | <0.0001 | 8.8 | 2.7 | <0.0001 |
Values are % unless otherwise specified. CMH: chronic mucus hypersecretion; mMRC: Modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea scale; CAT: COPD Assessment Test; FR: fixed ratio; LLN: lower limit of normal.