Effect of chronic lung diseases on angina pectoris among Indian adults: longitudinal ageing study in India
Authors: Ahmed Waquar , Dixit Priyanka 
Published: January 2024

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of chronic lung diseases, namely chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and asthma, on angina pectoris in individuals aged 45 years and above. Identifying vulnerable subpopulations suffering from COPD and asthma at higher risk of future cardiovascular events using the rose angina questionnaire is imperative for tailored primary and secondary prevention approaches. The present study utilizes the data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India, wave 1, conducted during 2017–2018. The sample size included 58,830 individuals aged 45 years and above. Angina was measured based on seven questions from Rose's questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis were employed to examine the prevalence of angina among individuals with COPD and asthma. Further, multivariable logistic regression and propensity score matching (PSM) methods were used to assess the independent effect of COPD and asthma on angina after controlling the selected background characteristics. We employed PSM in two different models and included various additional factors in model 2, such as smoking, chewing tobacco, alcohol use, ADL, IADL, body mass index, physical activity, high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, and chronic heart disease. The current study shows that the prevalence of angina pectoris, COPD and asthma was 6.0%, 2.3% and 4.7%, respectively, among individuals aged 45 years and above in India. The prevalence of angina pectoris was higher among individuals with COPD (9.6% vs. 5.8%) and asthma (9.9% vs. 5.7%) than those without COPD and asthma, respectively. Additionally, angina pectoris was more prevalent among females and rural respondents with COPD (10.8% and 11.0%) and asthma (10.3% and 10.3%) compared to males and urban respondents with COPD (8.0% and 5.7%) and asthma (8.9% and 7.9%). Moreover, in the adjusted model, individuals with COPD (AOR 1.43, 95% CI 1.03 1.98) and asthma (AOR 1.44, 95% CI 1.17 1.77) had nearly 1.5-fold higher odds of having angina pectoris than those without COPD and asthma. The PSM estimates showed that individuals with COPD had 8.4% and 5.0% increased risk of angina pectoris compared to those without COPD in model 1 and model 2, respectively. We observed that, after adjusting to lifestyle, health-related and morbidity factors in model 2, both average treatment effect on untreated (ATU) and average treatment effect (ATE) values decreased by nearly 3.5%. Additionally, the PSM estimates demonstrated that individuals with asthma had a 3.4% and 2.9% increased risk of angina pectoris compared to those without asthma in model 1 and model 2, respectively. The study suggests that COPD and asthma are significantly associated with angina pectoris, and individuals with COPD and asthma have a higher risk of developing angina pectoris. Additionally, angina pectoris was more prevalent among females, rural respondents and adults aged 45–54 with COPD compared to males, urban respondents and those aged 65 and above, respectively, with COPD. Moreover, the findings of our study underscore the targeted primary and secondary interventions and team-based care approach among individuals with COPD and asthma to reduce the risk of CVD events in future.