A free lung health check for the European Parliament: Healthy Lungs for Life.

Marcel Proust, the celebrated early twentieth century French writer, suffered from severe bronchial asthma his entire life, eventually succumbing to pneumonia. In 1900, he wrote: “An attack of asthma of unbelievable violence and tenacity – such is the depressing balance sheet of my night, which it obliged me to spend on my feet in spite of the early hour at which I got up yesterday.” In the twenty first century, 600000 Europeans continue to die prematurely from lung diseases [1]. Asthma, chronic obstructive respiratory disease (COPD), lung cancer, pulmonary hypertension and other respiratory diseases are, in combination, responsible for one in eight deaths in the 28 countries of the European Union [1]. When they do not result in death, they may harshly affect the life of the individuals or become a heavy economic burden for society. Hospital costs, treatments and loss of productivity, due to a patient’s inability to work and premature death, are estimated at more than €380 billion [1].