Gen Re Risk Matters: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) has become the preferred name (rather than emphysema or chronic bronchitis) for a lung disease that is a significant public health problem. It is estimated that there are over three million people in the UK with significant airway obstruction but only about 900,000 have received the diagnosis and therefore appropriate treatment. The European Respiratory Society (ERS) predicts that by 2020 COPD will account for over six million deaths annually making it the third leading cause of death worldwide.

http://www.genre.com/sharedfile/pdf/RiskMatters201011-en.pdf