Asthma And Other Breathing Disorders Afflict Baby Boomers
Posted November 21, 2007
As many as three million Canadians suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD. That number is expected to climb steadily as the population ages, according to new research. The findings, a doubling of the previous estimates, are being published today by the Lung Association. They are in-line with the conclusions of a large international study issued earlier this year that found that the incidence of COPD is grossly underestimated and that the majority of sufferers are undiagnosed and untreated. A simple breathing test, called spirometry, is used to diagnose COPD. Spirometry involves blowing into a tube to calculate the amount of air the lungs can hold and the rate at which the air is expelled. Smoking is the number one cause of COPD. There are 4.9 million smokers in Canada currently, and an estimated 9.5 million former smokers.
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