Men with a history of heavy smoking who have a CT scan to look for lung cancer could benefit from a simultaneous check for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Dutch researchers suggest. It’s estimated that smoking will cause more than 8 million deaths a year around the world in the coming decades. In addition to cardiovascular disease and cancer, COPD is a major cause of death in heavy smokers. Yet, it is under-diagnosed, and deaths from it are increasing, the researchers noted.
