health

Emphysema is increasing in the United States and other developed countries
primarily because of cigarette smoking. It is almost entirely a disease
of adults. About 12 million adults in the United States have been diagnosed
with the disease; however, many doctors believe emphysema is
underdiagnosed. Between 4 and 6 percent of male adults and 1 to 3 percent
of female adults are estimated to have emphysema. The number of
women diagnosed with the disease is rising rapidly; the year 2000 was the
first year that more women than men were identified as having emphysema.
About 120,000 people die each year in the United States from
emphysema.
People who develop emphysema as a result of smoking generally start
to have symptoms in their late forties or early fifties. Those who have
emphysema because of a genetic condition (described later) may begin
to have symptoms in their thirties. This genetic condition, known as
alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, is more common in Caucasians than in
members of other races and accounts for about 2 percent of all emphysema
cases in the United States.

Some people who do not smoke cigarettes are at increased risk of
emphysema. They include:

• People who work in occupations that expose them to high levels
  of dust from grain or cotton, or chemical irritants. These occupations
  include mining, certain types of agricultural work, and
  lumbering.
  
• People exposed to high levels of automobile exhaust or secondhand
  smoke.
  
• People with certain diseases that affect connective tissue, such as
  Marfan syndrome.