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• Lung Ailments Often Go Undiagnosed in the US 

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is underdiagnosed in the US, chiefly in its milder and more treatable forms, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia reported on Thursday.

COPD includes several diseases that inhibit lung function, such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema and asthma.

During 2000, roughly 10 million US adults reported receiving a diagnosis of COPD from their physician. But data from a national survey indicate that roughly 24 million US adults have impaired lung function. . . "We have evidence from national surveys that a substantial 14% of the population has objective evidence of mild-to-moderate COPD, but a relatively small proportion of them, roughly 30%, have actually been diagnosed with COPD, " he said. . .

"These data confirm that COPD is now a women's health disease, " Mannino said. "The increase in these trends for women probably reflects the increase in smoking among women in the US since the 1940s."

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