Respiratory disease
Respiratory disease affects one in five people and is the third biggest cause of death in England.
This profile (previously known as INHALE (the INteractive Health Atlas of Lung conditions in England)) is an online tool showing data from a range of sources about respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.
This profile includes data from:
- the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF)
- Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)
- the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF)
- the Office of National Statistics (ONS) mortality
Data is mostly for Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) or Sub ICBs and follows these domains:
- COPD indicators
- asthma indicators
- pneumonia indicators
- other respiratory diseases
- risk factors
The following indicators were generated using 2011 census based population estimates as the denominator. These will be updated to use the 2021 census based population estimates when the indicators are next updated:
- 93643 - Mortality rate from COPD as a contributory cause
- 93644 - Mortality rate from asthma
- 93640 - Mortality rate from pneumonia (underlying cause)
- 93641 - Mortality rate from pneumonia (all mentions)
The profile follows indicators developed for the ‘2nd Atlas of variation in risk factors and healthcare for respiratory disease in England'. You can access the full Atlas, including a PDF version and the datafile.
Recent updates
May 2025
The ‘Hospital admissions for asthma (under 19 years) - registered population’ indicator has been superseded by a resident population based version and is available up to 2023/24.
The following indicators have been updated with 2023/24 data
- Percentage of physically active adults
- Overweight (including obesity) prevalence in adults, (using adjusted self-reported height and weight)
April 2025
'Fuel poverty (low income, high cost methodology)' indicator removed, superseded by 'Fuel poverty (low income, low energy efficiency methodology)'.
February 2025
2023 data now available for the air pollution indicator (fine particulate matter, new method - concentrations of total PM2.5)
November 2024
The following indicators have been updated
- Mortality rate from respiratory disease, all ages
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory disease
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory disease considered preventable
- Mortality rate from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, all ages
- Smoking status at time of delivery
October 2024
2023 data is now available for the Smoking Prevalence in adults (18+) - current smokers (APS) indicator
2023/24 data are now available for the following indicators
- COPD: QOF prevalence (all ages)
- Asthma: QOF prevalence (6+ yrs)
- Patients with COPD who had a review in the last 12 months (denominator incl. PCAs)
- Patients with Asthma (6-19 yrs): Second-hand smoking status recorded in the last 12 months (denominator incl. PCAs)
- Patients with Asthma: review in the last 12 months (denominator incl. PCAs)
August 2024
2022 data is now available for the fuel poverty indicator
July 2024
New sub-ICB location, ICB, NHS Region and England data is available for the financial year ending 2023 for the following indicators
- Emergency hospital admissions for asthma in adults (aged 19 years and over)
- Emergency hospital admissions for pneumonia
- Emergency hospital admissions for respiratory disease
- Emergency hospital admissions for bronchiolitis in children aged under 2 years
- Emergency hospital admissions for COPD, all ages
- Median length of stay (days) of emergency admissions to hospital for asthma (aged under 19 years)
- Median length of stay (days) of emergency admissions to hospital for asthma in adults (aged 19 years and over)
- Median length of stay (days) of emergency admissions to hospital for pneumonia
- Median length of stay (days) of emergency admissions to hospital for COPD
- The percentage of zero and one day emergency admissions to hospital for bronchiolitis (in children aged under 2 years)
- The percentage of zero and one day emergency admissions to hospital for pneumonia
June 2024
New ICBs and NHS Region data is available for 2021 and 2022 for the following indicators
- Mortality rate from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, all ages
- Mortaltiy rate from respiratory disease, all ages
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory disease
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory disease considered preventable
The indicator 'Air pollution: fine particulate matter (new method - concentrations of total PM2.5)' has been updated to show 2022 data.
February 2024
The indicator 'Mortality rate from respiratory disease, all ages' has been added to the Respiratory disease profile.
The following indicators have been updated with single and 3 year up to the calendar year 2022
- Mortality rate from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, all ages
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory disease
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory disease considered preventable
The following indicators have been update with more recent data
- Winter mortality index (Aug 21 to Jun 22 update)
- Influenza immunisation given 1st Aug - 31st Mar to patients with COPD (2020/21 update)
November 2023
The following indicators have been updated with data for the financial year ending 2023
- COPD: QOF prevalence (all ages)
- Asthma: QOF prevalence (6+ yrs)
- Smoking status at time of delivery
- Smoking status of patients with certain conditions recorded in the last 12 months
- Smoking cessation support and treatment offered to patients with certain conditions
- Patients with COPD who had a review in the last 12 months
- Patients with COPD with a MRC dyspnoea score >=3 in the last 12 months, who have had an offer of referral to a pulm. rehab. clinic
- Patients with Asthma (6-19 yrs): Second-hand smoking status recorded in the last 12 months
September 2023
2022 data is now available for the smoking prevalence in adults indicator and 2021 data is now available for the fuel poverty indicator
May 2023
2021/22 data is now available for the indicators; Percentage of adults (aged 18+) classified as overweight or obese and Percentage of physically active adults.
Aug 2019 to Jul 2020 data is now available for the Winter Mortality Index indicator
