Those with a persistent cough and elderly people should be checked for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as hospital admission rates always jump during periods of cold and wet weather, a doctor has warned.
Respiratory medicine expert Roland Leung said many Hongkongers were still unaware of the disease, which the World Health Organisation expected to become the world's third-biggest killer in the next two decades.
According to Hospital Authority figures, an average of four people died of the disease every day in 2006. Dr Leung said that despite a drop in the number of deaths since then - because of a reduction in the number of smokers - Hong Kong had the second-highest death rate for the disease in East Asia last year, lagging just behind Japan.
'If your coughing lasts for more than three months and you are always short of breath, then you should go for a check-up,' Dr Leung said.
A 2005 study found 100,000 Hongkongers suffering from the disease - some even in the terminal stage - had never sought treatment, as many tended to put it down to an unhealthy lifestyle.
Directly linked to air pollution, Dr Leung said that apart from pneumonia, the disease was the most common cause of hospital admissions in Hong Kong. At worst patients may find themselves unable to carry out even the simplest household tasks such as cooking and cleaning.