There are more than 12 million people in the US with COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. About 10% of them are in New York and New Jersey.
Dr. Amit Mahajan of the American Lung Association said the amount of COPD reflects the situation in the US.
“Very close in terms of the national averages, slightly above with the prevalence of COPD, meaning that in New York and New Jersey about 5.5% of individuals are diagnosed with COPD, whereas in the general population of the United States it’s about 5%,” he said.
“That’s about 1.2 million people in New York and New Jersey,” he said. “And it really does stem from a significant use of cigarette smoking, a driving force behind COPD, and not only does it affect work days lost with COPD but it also just affects general functionality,” said Mahajan.
Mahajan said since smoking is a main cause of COPD, screening for lung cancer in the form of a low-dose CAT scan is very important, but few get it, here and nationwide.
“People who are eligible for lung cancer screening across the country, we only see about 5% of individuals screened, so New Jersey being slightly under that and New York being slightly above that is not atypical unfortunately,” he said.
Each year, treatment for COPD in the US costs an estimated $50 billion.