Chiesi COPD heatmap Test

Understanding the
COPD Diagnosis Gap

There are an estimated two million people in the UK (around 1.2 million in England alone) who could be living with COPD without knowing it.¹

COPD is a serious and progressive disease.² Early intervention is needed to help reduce the risk of permanent lung damage and exacerbations.² With symptoms such as breathlessness, fatigue and persistent cough often dismissed as ageing or lifestyle-related, many people are only diagnosed once their condition is already advanced.³ This leads to avoidable hospital admissions and poorer health outcomes.⁴

130,000 hospital admissions each year

COPD is the second most common causes of emergency hospital admissions.¹

1 in 4

Nearly 1 in 4 people with COPD wait more than five years for a diagnosis, and 1 in 8 wait more than a decade.⁴

Often diagnosed too late

Many people are only diagnosed with COPD once symptoms become severe and often during emergency hospital admissions – by which point the disease is likely progressed causing irreversible lung damage.⁵

The burden of COPD is also unequal - those from the most deprived 10% of households are 2.5 times more likely to have COPD than those from the most affluent 10%.⁴

We don’t think this is right.

As part of our commitment to challenge inequalities, Chiesi has analysed national data across every Integrated Care Board (ICB) in England to understand where the opportunity to find the ‘missing millions’ is greatest.⁶

How to use this map

Explore the map to see how COPD case-finding opportunities vary across ICBs.

Search by ICB, enter a postcode or click on a specific region to find information for a particular area.

What the colours mean

The colours show the estimated proportion of each area's GP-registered population who may be at risk of COPD but are not currently recorded on a COPD register (a recording system the NHS uses for research, clinical decision making and quality improvement).

Areas with a higher percentage (shown by a darker shade of pink) represent a greater opportunity to support case-finding and earlier diagnosis.

Find your MP

Found your local area and want to highlight the COPD diagnosis gap with your MP?

Use the UK Parliament's Find Your MP service to find your local MP and their contact details.

About this data

These figures are estimates from Chiesi's COPD case-finding model, using publicly available data from:

NHS England - Quality and Outcomes Framework 2025–26: prevalence, achievement and personalised care adjustments, respiratory group, at GP practice level
Office for National Statistics - Population estimates for 2024 Integrated Care Boards in England by single year of age and sex, mid-2022 to mid-2024
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) - Smoking status at time of survey: current smokers and ex-smokers, adults aged 55–74 years, England; Fingertips Public Health Profiles
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) - Smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 years and over): current smokers (APS); Fingertips Public Health Profiles

The figures represent modelled population-level case-finding opportunities, not confirmed numbers of people with undiagnosed COPD, clinical predictions or measures of ICB performance. Heatmap colours indicate relative opportunity between ICBs and do not represent clinical thresholds.

The model uses assumptions and datasets from different reporting periods. Full details of the methodology, data sources, assumptions and limitations are available on request.

Developed and funded by Chiesi Limited.

130,000 hospital admissions each year

COPD is the second most common causes of emergency hospital admissions.³

1 in 4

Nearly 1 in 4 people with COPD wait more than five years for a diagnosis, and 1 in 8 wait more than a decade.⁴

Often diagnosed too late

Many people are only diagnosed with COPD once symptoms become severe and often during emergency hospital admissions – by which point the disease is likely progressed causing irreversible lung damage.⁵

The burden of COPD is also unequal - those from the most deprived 10% of households are 2.5 times more likely to have COPD than those from the least deprived.⁴

We don’t think this is right.

As part of our commitment to challenge inequalities, Chiesi has analysed national data across every Integrated Care Board (ICB) in England to understand where the opportunity to find the ‘missing millions’ is greatest.⁶

How to use this map

Explore the map to see how COPD case-finding opportunities vary across ICBs.

Search by ICB, enter a postcode or click on a specific region to find information for a particular area.

What the colours mean

The colours show the estimated proportion of each area's GP-registered population who may be at risk of COPD but are not currently recorded on a COPD register (a recording system the NHS uses for research, clinical decision making and quality improvement).

Areas with a higher percentage (shown by a darker shade of pink) represent a greater opportunity to support case-finding and earlier diagnosis.

Find your MP

Found your local area and want to highlight the COPD diagnosis gap with your MP?

Use the UK Parliament's Find Your MP service to find your local MP and their contact details.

About this data

These figures are estimates from Chiesi's COPD case-finding model, using publicly available data from:

NHS England - Quality and Outcomes Framework 2025–26: prevalence, achievement and personalised care adjustments, respiratory group, at GP practice level
Office for National Statistics - Population estimates for 2024 Integrated Care Boards in England by single year of age and sex, mid-2022 to mid-2024
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) - Smoking status at time of survey: current smokers and ex-smokers, adults aged 55–74 years, England; Fingertips Public Health Profiles
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) - Smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 years and over): current smokers (APS); Fingertips Public Health Profiles

The figures represent modelled population-level case-finding opportunities, not confirmed numbers of people with undiagnosed COPD, clinical predictions or measures of ICB performance. Heatmap colours indicate relative opportunity between ICBs and do not represent clinical thresholds.

The model uses assumptions and datasets from different reporting periods. Full details of the methodology, data sources, assumptions and limitations are available on request.

Developed and funded by Chiesi Limited.

Lincolnshire Integrated
Care Board

More information

Estimated At-Risk Population
as a Percentage of GP List Size

Lower Less than 5.5%

Lower-middle 5.5% to less than 6.7%

Average 6.71% to less than 7.47%

Upper-middle 7.47% to less than 8.2%

Highest 8.2% and above