About 1 in 7 Older Adults Has Some Form of Lung Disease: CDC

COPD, asthma affect many aging Americans

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly 15 percent, or about one out of seven, middle-aged and older U.S. adults suffer from lung disorders such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), health officials said Tuesday.

While 10 percent of those people experience mild breathing problems, more than one-third of them report moderate or severe respiratory symptoms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

"There are a huge number of Americans that experience lung obstruction," said Dr. Norman Edelman, a senior medical advisor to the American Lung Association, who was not involved in the research. "It's a major problem; it's the third leading cause of death in the United States."

People with asthma or COPD -- which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis -- have reduced airflow and shortness of breath.

For the report, CDC researchers analyzed national survey data on adults ages 40 to 79 between 2007 and 2012. The research team looked at results of breathing tests or self-reported oxygen use to determine the prevalence of lung obstruction.

"The number of adults with lung obstruction has remained fairly stable since the last time these data were collected, in 2007 to 2010," said lead author Timothy Tilert, a data analyst with CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

According to the report, the incidence and severity of these lung diseases were similar for men and women, but prevalence increased with age. For example, 17 percent of people 60 to 79 had COPD or asthma compared with about 14 percent of those 40 to 59.

Also, severity of asthma or COPD -- which is usually caused by smoking -- was related to education level, Tilert said. People with some college education had lower rates of moderate or severe disease than those with less schooling.

Among people with either disease, more than half said they had one or more symptom, such as shortness of breath, wheezing, chronic cough or chronic phlegm.

For those with moderate to severe disease, more than 80 percent said they experienced at least one symptom. Shortness of breath was most common.

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Rotating Night Shift Work May Raise Risks of Heart Disease, Lung Cancer: Study

Research can't prove cause-and-effect, but does suggest a link

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Working rotating night shifts may pose a threat to your health, a new study suggests.

The study defined rotating shift work as at least three nights spent working each month, in addition to days and evenings worked in the month.

In the new study, researchers led by Dr. Eva Schernhammer of Harvard Medical School tracked 22 years of data from about 75,000 nurses across the United States.

While the study couldn't prove cause-and-effect, it found that people who worked rotating night shifts for more than five years had an 11 percent increased risk of death from all causes.

The risk of death from heart disease was 19 percent higher among those who worked such shifts for six to 14 years, and 23 percent higher for those who worked such shifts for 15 or more years, Schernhammer's group found.

Nurses who worked rotating night shifts for 15 or more years also had a 25 percent higher risk of death from lung cancer, according to the study.

The findings are to be published in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

According to the study authors, prior research has shown that night shift work is linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

"These results add to prior evidence of a potentially detrimental relation of rotating night shift work and health and longevity," Schernhammer, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said in a journal news release.

Further research is needed to learn how individual traits might interact with rotating night shift work to harm health, she added.

View the original article here

About 1 in 7 Older Adults Has Some Form of Lung Disease: CDC

COPD, asthma affect many aging Americans

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly 15 percent, or about one out of seven, middle-aged and older U.S. adults suffer from lung disorders such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), health officials said Tuesday.

While 10 percent of those people experience mild breathing problems, more than one-third of them report moderate or severe respiratory symptoms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

"There are a huge number of Americans that experience lung obstruction," said Dr. Norman Edelman, a senior medical advisor to the American Lung Association, who was not involved in the research. "It's a major problem; it's the third leading cause of death in the United States."

People with asthma or COPD -- which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis -- have reduced airflow and shortness of breath.

For the report, CDC researchers analyzed national survey data on adults ages 40 to 79 between 2007 and 2012. The research team looked at results of breathing tests or self-reported oxygen use to determine the prevalence of lung obstruction.

"The number of adults with lung obstruction has remained fairly stable since the last time these data were collected, in 2007 to 2010," said lead author Timothy Tilert, a data analyst with CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

According to the report, the incidence and severity of these lung diseases were similar for men and women, but prevalence increased with age. For example, 17 percent of people 60 to 79 had COPD or asthma compared with about 14 percent of those 40 to 59.

Also, severity of asthma or COPD -- which is usually caused by smoking -- was related to education level, Tilert said. People with some college education had lower rates of moderate or severe disease than those with less schooling.

Among people with either disease, more than half said they had one or more symptom, such as shortness of breath, wheezing, chronic cough or chronic phlegm.

For those with moderate to severe disease, more than 80 percent said they experienced at least one symptom. Shortness of breath was most common.

View the original article here