What we know
What information do we have about the Eastern Board area?
What is the result of this on our health locally?
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What is happening in the Eastern Board area?

The most common lung diseases are pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and lung cancer. Other lung diseases include pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary circulatory disease, tuberculosis, sleep apnoea, cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis.  For more information on lung cancer, refer to the lung cancer section of this website.

Smoking patterns and the increasing age of the population are likely to be the two main determinants of the future burden of respiratory disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by airflow obstruction which is usually progressive. It is predominantly caused by smoking.

Asthma is characterised by reversible airflow obstruction. The prevalence of asthma in children is increasing and is thought to be due to increased awareness, better diagnosis and pollution.

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Respiratory diseases accounted for 940 potential years of life lost between 1 and 75 years among Eastern Board residents.

More than 20% of patients admitted to general medical beds had a respiratory primary diagnosis. A large number of admissions where the primary diagnosis was not respiratory had a respiratory secondary diagnosis.

GP registers show that there are 11,698 people with COPD in the EHSSB area and 42,583, people with Asthma in the EHSSB area.

In 2005/06 there were 2412 admissions to hospital of people living in the EHSSB area with a diagnosis of COPD.

Deaths from lung disease in the UK are high compared to Europe - Ireland is the only EU country with higher death rates. While both coronary heart disease and cancer have been the subject of detailed national plans aimed at reducing the toll of death and disability, lung disease has not received such special attention. The burden of disability from diseases such as asthma and cystic fibrosis, which are lifelong, is considerable and many of the actions designed to tackle heart disease and cancer will have a knock-on effect on lung disease.

The most significant factor in the majority of cases of lung disease is smoking, and the government has provided funding to develop smoking cessation services and allow drugs such as Zyban and Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) to be available on prescription.  NRT is also available without prescription from community pharmacies registered as smoking cessation service providers.

The smoking ban in Northern Ireland was implemented on 30th April 2007, making it against the law to smoke in most enclosed and substantially enclosed workplaces and public places, including work vehicles and public transport.  The legislation was introduced to protect workers and the public from exposure to second hand smoke, which can increase the risk of lung cancer by 24% and the risk of asthma by 40-60% (SCOTH 2004).

It is estimated that smoking accounts for four out of five cases of COPD.

Approximately 75% of smokers indicate that they would like to quit smoking.  It is hoped that the smoking ban will help reduce the smoking prevalence in Northern Ireland (currently 26% Continuous Household Survey 2004/05) and that more people will avail of the smoking cessation support services across the region.

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