Improving respiratory mortality in Europe; are some countries being left behind?

<bold>Background:</bold> We previously demonstrated that mortality from all respiratory diseases decreased for men but was unchanged for women among the UK and EU15+ countries. The UK was an outlier, especially in the obstructive, interstitial and infectious subcategories. <bold>Aims and Objectives:</bold> Updated analysis comparing EU15+ countries and the UK using age-standardised death rates (ASDRs) for respiratory disease from 2000-2020. <bold>Methods:</bold> Mortality data for respiratory disease stratified by age and sex for EU15+ countries and the UK were extracted from the WHO Mortality Database using ICD-10 codes from 2000-2020. Countries missing >3 consecutive years were excluded. Trends were analysed via locally weighted scatter plots. Mortality is reported as ASDRs/100,000 people. <bold>Results:</bold> Median mortality of EU15+ countries fell for men (75 to 51) but was unchanged for women (26 to 27) (Figure 1). In 2020, the UK had the highest ASDR for men (60) and was second to Denmark for women (45 vs 46) for all respiratory diseases. The UK had the highest ASDR in men (16) and second highest in women (15) for obstructive disease, and the highest ASDR for interstitial lung disease in both men (4) and women (2). <bold>Conclusions:</bold> In Europe, mortality outcomes have improved for men but not for women. The UK remains an outlier for respiratory disease. These findings highlight the importance of prioritising respiratory conditions and investigating what underlies these disparities. <fig><object-id>erj;64/suppl_68/PA1299/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig>