Hundreds of millions of people suffer from chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) worldwide: 334 million have asthma, 210 million have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and millions have other diseases such as rhinitis, sinusitis, obstructive sleep apnea, pulmonary arterial hypertension, interstitial lung diseases and cystic fibrosis. In 2005, 250,000 people died of asthma and 3 million died of COPD. COPD is now the third leading cause of death worldwide.
