Lung disease is the third leading cause of death in Wisconsin, according to a report by the Wisconsin Public Health and Health Policy Institute and the American Lung Association of Wisconsin.

Doctors and officials said cigarette smoking is the overwhelming cause for a disease known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, with 85 percent of all cases cited as smoking related. The disease is characterized by obstruction of airflow to the lungs and includes ailments such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

While both men’s and women’s death rates remain high, female deaths have increased and male deaths have shown a slight decrease in the last twenty years.

The study found that the women’s death rate — in the number of deaths per 100,000 — is 4.3 times what it was in 1979, rising from 6.3 to 27.

More men die of COPD annually than do women, but their death rates have peaked and declined to 49 in 1998.

According to David Ahrens, co-author of the newly released report and research program manager for the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, more than 2,000 Wisconsin residents died from the disease in 2001 and 180,000 residents have the disease.

Researchers attribute the increased death rates to the increase in female smokers in the 1950s, who were consequently diagnosed with COPD twenty years later and are now dying from the disease.

Patrick Remington of the Wisconsin Public Health and Health Policy Institute said, “Some of the increase is likely due to a greater negative effect on lungs from smoking in women than among men.”

Studies have shown that smoking may be more detrimental in its effects on lung function in women. According to Remington, smokers smoke to get a dose of nicotine. Hence, women who have moved to light cigarettes for less tar and nicotine must in fact smoke more often and inhale deeper.

Sarah Tillman, a UW sophomore, reports that it is hard for her to quit smoking because every time she tries, she gains weight. She said cigarettes are often used as an appetite suppressant.

UW sophomore Lindsay Roubinek said she looks forward to her nightly smoke breaks as a time to socialize with her fellow smoker friends.

“Smoking is definitely a time to relax and talk with a friend,” Roubinek said. “When otherwise I would have had to make a point to see them, it served as an excuse from taking a break from everything.”

College students also look toward drinking as a huge component of why they may smoke.

“There is just something appealing about smoking when you drink. It is definitely a different feeling when you smoke and drink at the same time,” Roubinek said.

One of the reasons for this phenomenon, according to the American Lung Cancer Association, is that smoking cigarettes constricts the blood vessels, while drinking dilates them, making for a conflict in blood flow for a different and sometimes appealing feeling for some individuals.

“We know how to prevent it,” Janet McMahon of the education and outreach services division of American Lung Association of Wisconsin said. “By preventing people from smoking, helping those who do to quit and deterring young people from ever starting to smoke in the first place.”

The Wisconsin study pointed to increasing cigarettes taxes and anti-smoking media campaigns as useful tools in prevention.

COPD remains behind cancer and heart disease as the leading killers of women in Wisconsin.