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Minnesota Department of Health Report: Nearly 6,000 Hospitalizations for COPD in 2007  

The nation's fourth leading cause of death, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), is now being measured by the Minnesota Department of Health's Environmental Public Health Tracking Program. The program focuses on three major causes of hospitalizations in Minnesota that can be triggered or made worse by environmental factors such as secondhand smoke or outdoor air pollution -- asthma, heart attacks and COPD.

The report indicates that 3.4 percent of adult Minnesotans report having COPD, among those 65 or older the rate is much higher, 7.4 percent. For seniors 85 or older, COPD is even more common, as hospitalizations for the chronic lung disease has nearly tripled between 1996 and 2007. This trend in Minnesota mirrors national statistics, although the state's age-adjusted mortality rates for adults 45 years and older per 100,000 population is lower (78.4 percent) than the national average (88.5 percent).

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