COPD mortality rates for women remained unchanged from 1999 to 2019

From 1999 to 2019, there was no change in overall age-adjusted chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mortality rates among women, while small decreases were seen in the rates for men, according to research published in the May 6 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Susan A. Carlson, Ph.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed 1999 to 2019 death certificate data to examine geographic variation in sex-specific trends in age-adjusted COPD mortality rates among adults aged 25 years and older.

The researchers observed no significant change in overall COPD mortality during this period among women, while significant increases in rates were seen in small metropolitan, micropolitan, and noncore areas and in the Midwest (average annual percent change, 0.6, 1.2, 1.9, and 0.6 percent, respectively). Significant decreases were seen in rates in large central and fringe metropolitan areas and in the Northeast and West (−0.9, −0.4, −0.5, and −1.2 percent, respectively). There were significant decreases in rates overall (−1.3 percent), in all urban-rural areas (range, −1.9 percent [large central metropolitan] to −0.4 percent [noncore]), and in all regions (range, −2.0 percent [West] to −0.9 percent [Midwest]) among men.

"Strategies that help improve the trend among women and address geographic differences have the potential to reduce COPD mortality," the authors write.

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