Pulmonary diseases: first cause of mortality in the world.

For decades, these kinds of reports have suggested that cardiac and infectious illnesses are the main causes of death in the developed and developing world, respectively. If respiratory illnesses, including pneumonia, TB, and cancer in the respiratory system, among others, were grouped separately, the sum would reach 17% of all deaths and would be the top cause of death in the world. The Year of the Lung, 2010, was proposed by several associations to raise awareness of and promote research into respiratory pathology after the 2009 infl uenza A(H1N1) pandemic. 3 Perhaps it is necessary to call not for a year, but for a decade of study on the respiratory system , which is involved in so much morbimortality. Future accounts and developments in public health policies should take this view into account.