Rural Residence and Poverty Are Independent Risk Factors for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in the United States

Rationale: In developing countries, poor and rural areas have a high burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and environmental pollutants and indoor burning of biomass have been implicated as potential causal exposures. Less is known about the prevalence of COPD in the United States with respect to urban–rural distribution, poverty, and factors that uniquely contribute to COPD among never-smokers. Objectives: To understand the impact of urban–rural status, poverty, and other community factors on COPD prevalence nationwide and among never-smokers. Methods: We studied a nationally representative sample of adults in the National Health Interview Survey 2012–2015, with data linkage between neighborhood data from the U.S. Census’s American Community Survey and the National Center for Health Statistics Urban–Rural Classification Scheme. The main outcome was COPD prevalence. Measurements and Main Results: The prevalence of COPD in poor, rural areas was almost twice that in the overall population (15.4% vs. 8.4%). In adjusted models, rural residence (odds ratio [OR], 1.23; P