Research by the British Lung Foundation (BLF) reveals that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is poised to overtake breast cancer to become the UK’s fourth biggest killer of women.

However, alarming findings from a NOP World survey of over 1,000 women has shown that just one per cent rank COPD as their main health worry. Concern was only slightly higher amongst women who smoke - despite the fact that they are at 13-times greater risk of the condition.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an umbrella term for lung conditions such as bronchitis and emphysema.

The research found that the majority of women do not even realise that COPD is life threatening and are far more concerned about diseases like ovarian and cervical cancer - even though they kill just a fraction of the number who die from COPD.

Dame Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the BLF said: "COPD seems invisible as a major killer - but it takes the lives of many more women than other more widely discussed dangers. It is essential that we dramatically increase women’s understanding of how the disease can be prevented and managed effectively if we are to avoid thousands of unnecessary deaths."

COPD is an incurable disease that causes severe breathlessness and coughing that is terrifying to patients and can severely limit their lifestyles. Most patients also experience flare ups or exacerbations of the condition a couple of times each year, when they can become seriously ill and sometimes require lengthy hospital stays. The disease is mainly caused by smoking, but can also be due to exposure to second-hand smoke or dust/fumes, and more rarely a genetic condition.

The disease kills around 12,000 women in the UK every year. While prevalence rates have reached a plateau in men, they are rising steadily in women, probably reflecting historical increases in the number of women smokers. Women are more susceptible to developing COPD than men and their lung function worsens with less duration or intensity of smoking than men. This may be partly due to their smaller airways.

As over a quarter of all British women now smoke - more than in other European countries, including France - and smoking rates are on the increase among younger women, the BLF says COPD will become an even greater problem in the years ahead.

The BLF’s new survey conducted in 1,200 women around the UK found that:

• Of the UK’s top killers, COPD is the one women fear least
• Just 15 per cent of women even include COPD in their top 5 health concerns
• The disease UK women fear most is breast cancer
• 27 per cent of UK women wrongly believe that breast cancer is the UK’s number one killer
• 57 per cent of women do not know that COPD is life threatening
• Although nearly all women are aware of emphysema/chronic bronchitis, just one in three know the term COPD (the modern name for these illnesses)