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Did You Know? Facts & Figures on COPD

LogoNovember 14, 2003
Here are some facts and figures illustrating the toll COPD takes on health care around the world:

  • The World Health Organization estimates COPD kills 2.75 million people each year.
  • Worldwide, COPD ranks as the fourth leading cause of death, tying with HIV/AIDS.
  • National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2000 indicate COPD was responsible for 8 million physician office and hospital outpatient visits, 1.5 million emergency department visits, 726,000 hospitalizations, and 119,000 deaths.
  • The death rate for women more than doubled between 1980 and 2000, surpassing for the first time the number of men dying from the disease. From 1979 to 1999, the number of women dying from COPD rose by nearly 350 percent.
  • COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.
  • In 1998, approximately 107,000 Americans died of COPD.
  • COPD's prevalence and death rate are rising. In 2020, COPD is projected to become the third leading cause of death in the United States.
  • COPD has a higher mortality rate than asthma (5,438 deaths from asthma in 1998 versus 107,000 deaths from COPD in 1998).
  • An estimated 30 million Americans have COPD. However, only 16 million adult Americans have been diagnosed with disease.
  • In 2000, the annual cost to the nation for COPD was estimated to be approximately $30.4 billion. Health care expenditures accounted for $14.7 billion, and indirect costs (decreased income due to loss of work or premature death) were $15.7 billion.
  • Approximately 80 to 90 percent of COPD cases are caused by smoking; smokers are 10 times more likely than nonsmokers to die of COPD.
  • Occupational exposure to certain industrial pollutants increases the odds for COPD. A recent study found that 19.2 percent of COPD could be attributed to work exposures.
  • An estimated 11 million people were diagnosed with chronic bronchitis in 2001.
  • Females have significantly higher rates of chronic bronchitis than males, 7.5 million versus 3.7 million in 2001.  
  • An estimated 3 million Americans have been diagnosed with emphysema sometime in their life. Of the emphysema sufferers, 57 percent are male and 43 percent are female. However, the condition is increasing among women.
  • Alpha1 antitrypsin deficiency-related (AAT) emphysema is responsible for 5 percent or less of the emphysema in the United States.
  • An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Americans, primarily of northern European descent, have AAT deficiency emphysema.
  • A recent study suggests that there are at least 116 million AAT carriers among all racial groups worldwide.

SOURCES: American Association for Respiratory Care, American Lung Association, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease