The Alonissos Study: Cross-Sectional Study of the Community Respiratory Health Status in a Greek Healthcare Access Underprivileged Island

Petros Kassas; Eudoxia Gogou; Charalampos Varsamas; Konstantinos Vogiatzidis; Aggeliki Psatha; Maria Pinaka; Dimitra Siachpazidou; Alexandra Sistou; Eleftherios D Papazoglou; Despoina Kalousi; Konstantina Vatzia; Kyriaki Astara; Nikolaos Tsiouvakas; Sotirios G Zarogiannis; Konstantinos I Gourgoulianis

doi:10.3390/healthcare10122338

The Alonissos Study: Cross-Sectional Study of the Community Respiratory Health Status in a Greek Healthcare Access Underprivileged Island

Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Nov 22;10(12):2338. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10122338.

Authors

Petros Kassas¹, Eudoxia Gogou², Charalampos Varsamas¹, Konstantinos Vogiatzidis², Aggeliki Psatha¹, Maria Pinaka¹, Dimitra Siachpazidou¹, Alexandra Sistou¹, Eleftherios D Papazoglou¹, Despoina Kalousi¹, Konstantina Vatzia¹, Kyriaki Astara¹, Nikolaos Tsiouvakas¹, Sotirios G Zarogiannis^{1

2}, Konstantinos I Gourgoulianis¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Biopolis, 41110 Larissa, Greece.
² Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Biopolis, 41500 Larissa, Greece.

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the self-reported (questionnaire-based) prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome (OSAS) and the prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) in the context of demographics and adherence to the Mediterranean diet in the general population of Alonissos, a non-profit line island in Greece (i.e., with scarce boat transportation to the mainland). In this cross-sectional study, 236 inhabitants of Alonissos participated (circa 10% of the island's population), and 115 males and 121 females were evaluated with appropriate questionnaires for OSAS, COPD, and adherence to the Mediterranean diet and subsequently underwent spirometry testing to establish COPD diagnosis. The self-reported prevalence of OSAS and COPD was 9.44% and 18.8%, respectively. However, only 8.99% of the participants were diagnosed with COPD based on their spirometry testing. Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet was moderate. The high prevalence of COPD and OSAS in this underprivileged island in terms of healthcare access highlights the need for improvements in health promotion and primary healthcare provision in non-profit line Greek islands.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; insular public health; obstructive sleep apnea syndrome; prevalence; primary healthcare; spirometry.

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the Postgraduate Master Course in “Primary Health Care” of the Faculties of Medicine and Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Greece, through a PhD fellowship to PK.