TY - JOUR T1 - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2025: where are we headed? JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 189 LP - 189 DO - 10.1183/09031936.05.00063605 VL - 26 IS - 2 AU - D. Mannino Y1 - 2005/08/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/26/2/189.abstract N2 - The last 100 years have seen dramatic changes in the diseases that affect mankind, especially in the developed world. In the USA in 1900, infections were the leading causes of death, and mean life expectancy at birth was 49.2 yrs 1. By 2000, heart disease was now the leading killer in the USA and life expectancy had increased to 76.5 yrs 1. Chronic diseases became the leading killer in the USA in the 1960s. Over the next 40 yrs the age-adjusted mortality rate for heart disease, stroke and cancers steadily decreased, whereas the mortality rate for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease … ER -