January 18, 2006 – Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, commonly known as COPD, is the fourth leading cause of death in Canada. However, in the majority of Canadian provinces, the health care system has serious shortcomings in preventing, detecting and treating this increasingly widespread disease.
Death rate from COPD in Canada
This is what emerges from a report1 prepared by the Canadian Lung Association and the Canadian Thoracic Society. According to the authors, the situation is all the more important given that COPD is the only disease whose death rate is on the rise – both in Canada and elsewhere in the world. That is why they are calling on the federal and provincial governments to make COPD “a priority for health care programs”.
The two main forms of COPD are chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Tobacco, big responsible
Smoking explains 80% to 90% of COPD cases, but a combination of other factors is also responsible, such as the quality of the indoor air (second-hand smoke) and outdoor air (pollution, exposure to certain contaminants).
It affects people 55 and over more. It mostly affected men until recently, but since the late 1990s, as many women as men have died from COPD.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), COPD was responsible for the death of 2.75 million people in 2002, or 4.8% of all deaths worldwide2.
And the situation will get worse: an international study that has just been published3 predicts that from 1990 to 2020, COPD will drop from sixth to third leading cause of death in the world. An example already illustrates this trend: in 30 years, from 1968 to 1998, the death rate from cardiovascular disease fell by 59% in the United States, while the death rate from COPD increased by 163%.
In Canada, Health Canada already indicated in 2001 that “the number of people with (COPD) will probably not stop increasing due to the aging of the population” and that “it will be necessary to extend existing primary care services” to this effect4.
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
1. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): National Assessment Report, 2005.
2. Chronic respiratory diseases, World Health Organization (WHO). Information is available at: www.who.int/respiratory/copd/burden/en/index.html [consulté le 18 janvier 2006].
3. Chapman KR, Mannino DM, Soriano JB, et al. Epidemiology and costs of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, European Respiratory Journal, January 2006, Vol. 27, No 1, 188-207.
4. Health Canada and Canadian Institute for Health Information, Respiratory diseases in Canada, September 2001. The report is available at: www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/rdc-mrc01/index_e.html [consulté le 18 janvier 2006].
