Background information on lung health issues
The Challenge of Lung Disease in Canada
Lung disease is a widespread and growing health concern in Canada, affecting the lives of millions of people in this country. Here are some facts that point to the serious impact of respiratory illnesses:
- At least 6 million Canadians – one out of every five people – suffer from asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), lung cancer, sleep apnea or another respiratory disease;
- Canada has one of the highest rates of asthma in the world, including 16% among children aged 4 to 11 and 8.3% of Canadians 12 years of age or older1;
- Research by The Lung Association indicates that 3 million Canadians may have COPD2 – the WHO estimates that, by 2030, COPD will be the third leading cause of death in the world3 ;
- Tuberculosis rates among Aboriginal peoples are more than 25 times higher than those of other people born in Canada4;
- COPD affects 4.8 percent of women and 3.9 percent of men – and since 2000, female COPD mortality rates have risen at double the rate of breast cancer5;
- Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of lung disease in Canada6 – yet, each year, 37,000 Canadians die as a result of tobacco-related diseases. This represents 16.6% of all Canadian deaths7;
- In 2008, the cost of air pollution in Canada is estimated to be $10 billion and will lead to approximately 21,000 premature deaths8
- The burden of lung disease in 2007 was $154 billion, and without an action plan in place, the projected annual cost of lung disease is expected to climb to $170.2 billion by 2020 and to $201.7 billion by 20579
Canada needs co-ordinated national action to address the growing challenge of lung disease.
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References
1 Matthew Masoli, Denise Fabian, Shaun Holt, Richard Beasley, Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (Wellington, New Zealand), University of Southampton (Southampton, UK). “Global Burden of Asthma”. Developed for the Global Initiative for Asthma. May 2004. Page 9.
2 The Lung Association “COPD and Smoking: Sounding the Alarm”. Survey data collected by Leger Marketing.
3 World Health Organization. “World Health Statistics 2008”. WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. France.
4 Special Report of the Canadian Tuberculosis Committee, “Tuberculosis Among the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada, 2000 to 2004 (Chapter: Incidence Rate)”. Tuberculosis Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada and First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada.
5 Women and COPD: A National Report; The Lung Association, The Canadian Thoracic Society, November 2006. Primary research for Women and COPD: A National Report was conducted by Leger Marketing.
6 Eva M Makomaski Illing and Murray J Kaiserman. “Mortality Attributable to Tobacco Use in Canada and its Regions, 1994 and 1996”. Chronic Diseases in Canada, Volume 20, No. 3 – 2000. (http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/cdic-mcc/20-3/b_e.html)
7 http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/tobac-tabac/legislation/label-etiquette/graph/citydies-villemeurt9-eng.php
8 ”No Breathing Room: The National Illness Costs of Air Pollution”, Canadian Medical Association. August 2008.
9 Based on data contained in “Preliminary Cost-Risk-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed National Lung Health Framework – Final Report”. Prepared for the Public Health Agency of Canada by HDR/HLB Decision Economics Inc., February 2008
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