Extract from COPD Case Statement

COPD is a short-hand term for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. People with chronic asthma and bronchiectasis are also sometimes given this diagnostic label. In general, the conditions are progressive, disabling and all too common. The cost for sufferers, their carers, governments and society is substantial. Yet expenditure and consistency of management are well below ideal.

Smoking is the major risk factor, but more research is needed into what disease processes actually take place which cause some (but not all) smokers to develop COPD. We need to know more about how common and burdensome COPD is in both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians and New Zealanders. More....

Foreword
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - Key Facts

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Extract from COPD Case Statement Executive Summary

• COPD is costing the nation an estimated $818 to $898 million annually. This is a conservative estimate because it is based on 1993–94 figures extrapolated to the Year 2001. The addition of hidden costs could increase the estimate to more than $1 billion per year.
   
• Prevalence estimates for COPD may be well in excess of the most recent AIHW figure of 300,000 (1996). Two recent studies indicate that COPD prevalence is in the range of 620,000 to 2.6 million cases.
   
• More accurate prevalence figures can only be obtained by a series of integrated prevalence and costing studies.
   
• The current misdiagnosis, misclassification and masking of the diagnosis of COPD by other comorbid illnesses leads to a major underestimate of the economic burden of COPD. More...

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