COPD Month Offers Time to Reflect on Third Leading Cause of DeathNovember 2, 2012 Today COPD has risen to the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Just a few years ago, it was #4, but even with its increasing prevalence, up to 30% of the U.S. population doesn’t know what COPD is. That was reported in a National Institutes of Health report last year. As we celebrate COPD Awareness Month and World COPD Day on Nov. 14, the AARC asks you to think about the successes we’ve all shared in this year.
“COPD kills more than 120,000 adults each year. That’s one death every four minutes—more than breast cancer and diabetes combined. Yet people go undiagnosed and untreated because they don’t recognize the symptoms,” said James P. Kiley, Ph.D., director of the NHLBI's Division of Lung Diseases. AARC’s commitment to COPD awareness continues and we encourage your participation to patient education and identifying disease in the undiagnosed. |
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