Respiratory Disease
Overview
Approximately 8 million people in the UK are affected by chronic lung diseases, most of these are either asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Respiratory disease is a ‘hidden disability’. People with lung disease can experience severe restrictions on their mobility and ability to undertake day-to-day activities, such as getting dressed or cooking a meal. There are a wide range of other factors which impact on lung health, including smoking; viral lung infections and inadequate lung development in childhood; passive smoking; genetics; air pollution; occupational exposure to materials such as dust, asbestos fibres and other irritant particles. Nutrition and social deprivation are also factors for lung health.
Burden and Costs
Respiratory disease is the second biggest killer in the UK after all non-respiratory cancers There are more than 40 conditions which affect the lungs and/or airways and impact on a person’s ability to breathe. They include lung cancer, tuberculosis, asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), cystic fibrosis, sleep apnoea, avian flu, bronchiolitis and many others. The UK’s death rate from respiratory disease is almost double the European average and the 6th highest in Europe
Respiratory disease is the second most common illness responsible for emergency admission to hospital. There are an estimated one million admissions a year for respiratory disease in the UK suggests at a cost of £1,496.4 million to secondary care.
Respiratory disease costs the NHS and society £6.6 billion, £3 billion in costs to the care system, £1.9 billion in mortality costs and £1.7 billion in illness costs. An estimated 24 million consultations with GPs were for respiratory disease in 2004 at a cost of £501 million to primary care.
Key resources
Disease groups - Respiratory disease - Regional key resources
Disease groups - Respiratory disease - National key resources
Last review Dec 2009