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35 Million Americans Have Chronic Lung Diseases

• Every year almost 400,000 Americans die from lung disease--an age-adjusted death rate of 135.5 per 100,000.
• Lung disease is the number three killer (behind heart disease and cancer) in the United States, responsible for one in six deaths.
• The lung disease death rate has been continuously increasing while death rates due to other leading causes of death such as heart disease, cancer and stroke have been declining.
• Overall, various forms of lung disease and breathing problems constitute one of the leading causes of death in babies under the age of one year, accounting for 20.2 percent of infant deaths in 2004.
• More than 35 million Americans have chronic lung diseases.
• An estimated 438,000 Americans die each year from diseases directly related to cigarette smoking, including heart and lung diseases.
• Millions of children and adults with lung disease in this country are exposed to levels of ozone and particle air pollution that could potentially make them sick.
• Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema and chronic bronchitis), the most common obstructive lung diseases, are associated with substantial health impairment and work disability.
• Lung disease costs the U.S. economy $95 billion in direct health-care expenditures every year, plus indirect costs of $59 billion--a total of $154 billion.

Source: American Lung Association. www.lungusa.org