National Healthcare Quality Report 2005

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Respiratory Diseases

Importance and Measures

Mortality
Number of deaths due to lung diseases (2001).................................................................	231,545³⁶
Number of deaths, influenza and pneumonia combined (2003)...........................................	64,847²
Cause of death rank, influenza and pneumonia combined (2003)........................................	7th²

Prevalence
Americans 18 or over with an asthma attack in past 12 months (2003)..............................	13,623,000³⁷
Americans under 18 with an asthma attack in past 12 months (2003)................................	3,975,000³⁸

Incidence
Annual number of cases of the common cold in the U.S. (est)...........................................	>1 billion³⁹
Annual number of pneumonia cases (1996)......................................................................	4,800,000⁴⁰

Cost
Total cost of lung diseases (2005 est.).........................................................................	$139.6 billion³
Direct medical costs of lung diseases (2005 est.)..........................................................	$80.7 billion³
Total approximate cost of upper respiratory infections (annual)........................................	$40 billion⁴¹
Total cost of asthma (2004)..........................................................................................	$27.6 billion³⁶
Direct medical costs of asthma (2004)..........................................................................	$11.5 billion³⁶

Measures

The NHQR tracks several quality measures for prevention and treatment of this broad category of illnesses that includes influenza, pneumonia, asthma, upper respiratory infection, and tuberculosis. The four core report measures highlighted in this section are:

Pneumococcal vaccination
Receipt of recommended care for pneumonia
Receipt of antibiotics for the common cold
Hospital admissions for pediatric asthma

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