Respiratory society: The Republic has the highest death rate from lung disease of the 25 countries in the EU, the president of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) said yesterday.
Speaking at the European Respiratory Conference in Glasgow, Prof Walter McNicholas, ERS president and consultant respiratory physician at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, said there was an urgent need for the Government to formulate a national lung health strategy.
"With death rates from lung disease running at twice the EU average, we need a lung health strategy to match the existing cancer and cardiovascular strategies," he said.
"There is a large awareness deficit in lung disease and a national strategy should have as its foundation an awareness campaign. It also needs to focus on the early detection of lung disease at a primary care level."
Earlier, Prof McNicholas told a press conference that European research funding in respiratory medicine compared poorly with other specialities.
"There is a negative image of many respiratory diseases because they are tobacco related. This is an inappropriate conclusion and one that the ERS does not agree with," he said.
In a comparison between the leading causes of death in 1990 and those projected for 2010, he pointed to the rising mortality rate from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). "While death rates from coronary heart disease are falling, those from COPD are continuing to rise."
Prof McNicholas said the biggest economic burden from lung disease was the time lost from work by those affected. "One of the principal objectives of my presidency has been to promote advocacy as a strategic priority for the ERS," he said.
Dr Siobhán McLoughlin, specialist registrar in respiratory medicine at St James's Hospital, Dublin, presented research outlining the success of a dedicated ventilation service for people with severe respiratory disease.
A non-invasive ventilation (NIV) service, introduced in 2003, resulted in a reduction of in-hospital death rates from 24.5 per cent to 4.6 per cent after one year. Most of the patients treated by the service had severe COPD and were extremely ill. "In this context, the reduction in three- month mortality from 35 per cent to 15 per cent is particularly significant," Dr McLoughlin said.
The team consisted of a specialist registrar, respiratory nurse and a physiotherapist. "We plan to extend the initiative to people's homes and to start a rescue/outreach programme," she said.
Several research papers presented at the conference illustrated the importance of the neonatal period. Dr Elianne Vrijlandt of the Beatrix Children's Hospital in Groningen, Netherlands looked at the subsequent health of most of the premature babies born in Holland in 1983. "Those born prematurely are more frequently affected by wheezing than other young adults," she said. "But the comparisons are particularly striking where asthma is concerned, with the general prevalence of asthma three times higher among people born prematurely."