Short Communication
Executive summary of the multicenter survey on the prevalence and risk factors of chronic respiratory diseases in patients presenting to primary care centers and emergency rooms in Syria
Abstract
In 2009-2010, Tishreen University and the Health Ministry conducted a multi-center Survey on the Prevalence and risk factors of chronic respiratory diseases (CRD) and co-morbidities in patients presenting to primary care centers, general outpatients clinics and Emergency rooms in hospitals. In collaboration with WHO-Global alliance against chronic respiratory diseases (GARD), www.who.int/gard, the protocol of this survey has been established tested and validated by the WHO-GARD experts (1). This survey is the first multi-center survey on CRD in primary care in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The strongest point is the use of lung function measurement for diagnosis of CRD (2).