Critical Appraisal of Epidemiological Study of COPD among Canadian Aboriginals

Running head: HEALTHCARE
Nursing assignment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Epidemiology is an umbrella terms that encompasses conducting a through and
comprehensive study of the determinants and distribution of disease and health conditions, in
particular population. Epidemiology has been identified as the cornerstone of public health
and practice and is primarily responsible for formulating and shaping healthcare policies and
regulations, in addition to supporting evidence based practice (Oakes & Kaufman, 2017). It
helps in the identification of risk factors that increase the likelihood of people suffering from
diseases. Major domains of epidemiological study comprise of disease
causation, outbreak investigation, disease surveillance, environmental epidemiology,
transmission, bio-monitoring, occupational epidemiology, forensic
epidemiology, screening, and comparisons of the impacts of treatment. This assignment will
contain a critical appraisal of an article that is based on an epidemiology of COPD, among
Canadian Aboriginals.
Target population
The term Aboriginal or indigenous people in Canada is commonly used to refer to
Métis, First Nations, and Inuit individuals. They have been identified as the actual and native
inhabitants of Canada. As per government estimates, there were more than 1.6 million
individuals in 2016, in Canada, who had been identified as Aboriginals, thereby accounting
for an estimated 4.9% of the nation-wide population (The Canada Encyclopedia, 2018).
There is mounting evidence for the fact that this population is rigorously threatened and has
faced adversities from the colonial forces during the early years (Wallace, 2017). According
to Lafontaine (2018) there are specific disparities in the health between these indigenous
people and the non-indigenous Canada citizens, with most of the disparities being associated
to economic, cultural, political and social factors that create a significant impact on the
overall health and wellbeing of the indigenous community. The term chronic obstructive

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pulmonary disease (COPD) refers to the onset and development of progressive lung illnesses
that include chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and non-reversible asthma (Magnus, Henderson,
Tilling, Howe & Fraser, 2018). The article selected for the critical appraisal is based on the
epidemiological study of visits to the emergency departments, following diagnosis of COPD
among Aboriginal individuals, who reside in Alberta, Canada.
Critical appraisal
The researchers addressed a clearly focused issue. The research was based on the fact
that COPD is primarily characterized by the presence of persistent, chronic, and not
completely reversible obstruction of the airways (Ospina et al., 2016). This condition results
in a systemic manifestations, and subsequently increases the severity and frequency of
exacerbations that recurrently increase the number of visits of the affected people to the
emergency department. The research background was correctly based on the burden of
COPD owing to the fact that WHO has provided estimates for more than 65 million
individuals suffering from moderate or severe COPD. In addition, it has also been found that
COPD contributes to 55 of the global deaths on an annual basis and is anticipated to become
one of the leading contributors of death by the year 2030 (WHO, 2018). This calls for the
need of determining the burden of COPD on emergency hospital visits, hence confirming the
research background.
The study participants were recruited in an appropriate manner. The researchers
undertook sample recruitment based on data on administrative health, from Alberta. They
took into account individual-level, longitudinal, and de-identified data from 2002-2009, and
associated them with information present in AHCIP registry. Registered First Nations people
were taken into account for the recruitment of Aboriginals (Ospina et al., 2016). The
Aboriginal individuals who had been currently diagnosed with COPD were identified based
on certain criteria such as, (i) aged 35 years or more, (ii) COPD confirmed by two physicians,