Problem/Objective: Tobacco-related diseases and conditions are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Ohio. Many of the diseases and conditions associated with tobacco use already have known estimated prevalence data, but Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and emphysema did not. Previously, the only way to measure COPD and emphysema's effect on the state of health in Ohio adults was via mortality data. Questions were added to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in order to estimate the prevalence of tobacco-related diseases and conditions, including COPD and emphysema.

Methods: Using 2006 BRFSS data weighted to Ohio's adult population, tobacco-related disease and condition prevalence were collected. Diseases and conditions included for analysis include Coronary Heart Disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, asthma, COPD, emphysema, hypertension, elevated cholesterol, and macular degeneration. Two state-added questions were included in the 2006 BRFSS in order to estimate COPD and emphysema.

Results: The new data on COPD and emphysema indicate there's a relatively low prevalence among the adult population for each disease. About 210,000 Ohio adults have COPD and about 270,000 Ohio adults have emphysema. These prevalence estimates have distinct gender and race/ethnic differences.

Conclusions: Tobacco-related morbidity and mortality are large in Ohio. Even though the prevalence of tobacco-related diseases and conditions might not be high, the low prevalence data represents a large number of people affected by these diseases and conditions in a population the size of Ohio (around 9 million adults 18 and older).