Public Funding for COPD Research Lags Behind Need

Despite being the nation’s third leading cause of death, with nearly 140,000 lives lost annually, COPD funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is only $108 million per year. By contrast, Diabetes which, like COPD, is a chronic disease, claims fewer than 70,000 lives annually, yet NIH funding for that disease is more than $1 billion per year. BREATHE LA's advocacy team is reaching out to public officials to address that significant gap. In the meantime, we rely upon funding from grants and individual donors to help us to fund education and research efforts.

Disease                                      Deaths               Funding                                                                                                                                                                                                        

COPD                                          137,789           $108,000,000                                                                                                                                          

Parkinson's Disease                        21,963             $151,000,000                                                                                                                                                                                                

Alzheimer's Disease                        83,308             $ 448,000,000                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Kidney Disease                              50,472             $ 557,000,000                                                                                                                                                                                               

Liver/Cirrhosis                                31,802             $303,000,000                                                                                                                                                                                                

Breast Cancer                                40,598             $715,000,000                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Diabetes                                       68,905             $1,076,000,000                                                                                                                                                                                              

AIDS/HIV                                      9,406               $3,059,000,000                                                                                                                                       

Sources                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Estimates of Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (RCDC): From the NIH. Feb 13, 2012: http://report.nih.gov/rcdc/categories/  

National Vital Statistics Reports: From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vol 60.Number 4.  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_04.pdf

Breast Cancer mortality rates from 2007, CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/