Nearly half of U.S. adults over the age of forty who have asthma or COPD still continue to smoke, according to a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday.
About 1 in 12 people in the United States have asthma, and this number continues to rise each year. Nearly 4.3 million people were diagnosed with the condition from 2001 to 2009, and nine people die from it every day.
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), on the other hand, remains to be the third leading cause of death in the country. In 2011, about 12.7 million people, aged 18 and above, were diagnosed with COPD. Smoking makes it worse; 80 percent of COPD patients have died because of it.
The CDC researchers led by Ryne Paulose-Ram studied 2007 to 2012 data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Survey involving adults aged 40 to 79. Initial analysis showed that about 46 percent of the participants who have lung disease are still smoking; the number climbed by 11 percent after including moderate and severe lung cases.
"Approximately 40 percent of those with COPD experience high levels of depression and anxiety, making it more difficult to comply with treatment and quitting smoking," Patricia Folan, director of the Center for Tobacco Control at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y., said to Healthday News.
Smoking makes the condition of people with asthma or COPD much worse, and can lead to deteriorating overall health and unintended weight loss.
Researchers recommended that people with lung diseases who continue to smoke should undergo treatment for depression to help them quit the habit.
"Cessation medications, empathetic counseling, motivational interviewing, and ongoing support from professionals, family and friends," are some other methods.
