Ireland’s respiratory disease death rates 60% higher than rest of Europe
The study showed that the numbers dying from lung disease in Ireland is nearly 60% higher than in the rest of Europe.
Lung doctors have called for research into why our death rate could be so high when other European countries have higher smoking rates and more heavily industrialised economies.
The research by British think-tank, the Bow Group, revealed that the Irish death rate from respiratory disease was 110.3 deaths per 100,000 population.
This compares to a European Union average of 73.6 deaths per 100,000 people.
The only country to top the Irish death rate was Britain which recorded 126.1 deaths per 100,000.
In countries such as the new accession states of Latvia and Croatia, figures are as low as 36.4 deaths and 45.4 deaths per 100,000.
In France and Italy, two countries with a high population of smokers and a tradition of heavy industry, the death rate from respiratory disease is 60.6 per 100,000 and 65.4 per 100,000.
Respiratory diseases are one of the most common reasons for admission to A&Es and numbers spiral during the winter as weather conditions dampen.
Respiratory illness includes Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a family of diseases such as asthma, pnenumonia and lung cancer. COPD affects more than 110,000 Irish people and accounts for almost a quarter of deaths in Ireland.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has indicated that Ireland has the second highest COPD mortality rate of 28 industrialised nations, only lagging behind Hungary.
Respiratory consultant Dr Neil Brennan of the Mercy University Hospital in Cork, said there is no clear reason why Irish death rates are so high.
“It’s an area that needs research as many other European countries have much more industry which generates far more dirt and dust which can have a very negative impact on people’s lungs. It’s not as if we smoke a lot more than other European countries like France, Spain and Italy,” he said.
Dr Brennan said he does not believe that the health services can be blamed for the death rate.
“Public health research needs to be done in this area as there is no good explanation. Smoking can be partly blamed but there must be something in the Irish genetic makeup as rates of the diseases are very high.”
