The Republic has the highest death rate from respiratory disease in western Europe, according to a report to be published today. It found the cost of respiratory disease to the Irish health service was €317 million in 2001.
Hospital inpatient care for respiratory illness amounted to €190 million, while the cost of publicly-funded drugs in primary care for people with lung problems amounted to €77.5 million, it revealed. Respiratory disease covers a broad range of illnesses such as asthma, tuberculosis and lung cancer.
The INHALE - Ireland Needs Healthier Airways and Lungs, the Evidence - document states that in Europe, only Kyrgystan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have death rates from respiratory disease higher than Ireland. Lung disease and other respiratory conditions kill one in five people here, which is twice the European average. The report was compiled by Dr Neil Brennan, consultant respiratory physician at the Mercy Hospital, Cork and Dr Terry O'Connor of St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin.
Almost 40 per cent of deaths from respiratory disease in the State are from pneumonia. Chronic bronchitis or chronic obstructive lung disease is the second largest cause of respiratory death, accounting for just over a quarter of deaths.
Cancer of the lung is the third biggest killer of people from respiratory disease.
Published by the Irish Medical Journal and the Irish Medical Organisation, INHALE is the first ever compilation of data on respiratory disease in the Republic. It is modelled on a report entitled The Burden of Lung Disease, published by the British Thoracic Society.
The effect of asbestos exposure is reflected in a trebling of mesothelioma deaths in the last 20 years here. Mesothelioma is a tumour of the lining of the lung and is almost always the result of occupational exposure to asbestos.
According to the authors, social inequality causes a higher proportion of deaths in respiratory disease than in any other disease area. Rates of tuberculosis and chronic obstructive airways disease are highest for people in the lowest socio-economic groups.
Statistics from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs show that 347,868 working days were lost in the Republic in 2001 because of respiratory illnesses.