Word: lungful
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Regeth suffers from a disease most people never think about. Most haven't even heard of it, at least by the official name used by doctors, researchers and advocacy groups like the American Lung Association. A person might worry about getting heart disease or cancer or Alzheimer's, but who sits around fretting about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD...
...Lung cancer is deadlier (it killed 150,000 Americans in 2000, vs. 120,000 for COPD), but COPD is more common--by a long shot. Some 13 million Americans suffer from COPD, nearly 40 times as many as have lung cancer. In fact, this "other" lung disease--a condition that includes more familiar illnesses such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema--is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., after cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and stroke. The number of deaths due to COPD has nearly doubled over the past two decades, and the most dramatic increase has occurred...
...best way to stop this vicious circle is to quit smoking. "If people stop smoking early on," says Petty, "their lung function actually goes up and stays up for five years." That's a lot easier said than done, considering how addictive tobacco is--and it's not an option for the 15% of COPD victims who don't smoke. But even for nonsmokers, it's important to identify the disease as early as possible as that's when drugs are most effective. And because people with COPD are especially prone to lung infection, they need to be vigilant about...
SHORT OF BREATH: The "other" lung disease is far more common than cancer--and preventable...
...cholesterol, more than Pravachol does. Both groups of patients in this study--to be published in the April 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine but released a few weeks early--had their LDL levels reduced below 100 mg/dL--the target currently recommended by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for folks who have heart disease or diabetes. The Lipitor patients achieved an average LDL level of 62 mg/dL, compared with 95 mg/dL for the Pravachol group...