Association of excess mortality from chronic nonspecific lung disease with epidemics of influenza. Comparison of experience in the United States and in England and Wales, 1968 to 1976.

Mortality from chronic nonspecific lung disease reported in the United States and in England and Wales during the period 1968 to 1976 was studied to determine if excessive deaths from this condition were associated with epidemics of influenza. In both countries, peaks of excess mortality of this type did indeed occur during such epidemics; however, these excesses were considerably more marked in the British data where the estimated number of such deaths over the 8-yr period was 15,800 compared with 6,000 for the United States. There was a decreasing secular trend in age-specific death rates for chronic nonspecific lung disease among British males of all ages, whereas only middle-aged males showed such a trend in the United States; older American males were subject to a substantially increasing trend. The respective trends in such mortality observed among males in the 2 countries were also seen among females but were smaller in magnitude.