Donald Trump’s policies are likely to drive soaring rates of lung disease and premature death, according to a wide-ranging new study by pulmonary specialists and public health experts.

The analysis, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, examines policies adopted during Trump’s second term across 10 areas, including healthcare access, environmental regulation, workplace protections and vaccine uptake.

The moves are likely to increase lung disease incidences, worsen existing illness and undermine care for patients already suffering, threatening children and adults’ pulmonary health, the researchers say. Taken together, they amount to “an attack on Americans’ lungs” that could mean millions “die needlessly in the years ahead”, warned Adam Gaffney, a pulmonary physician and professor at Harvard Medical School who led the report.

Among the most immediate concerns highlighted in the report are healthcare cuts included in Trump’s second-term tax and spending package. Known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), it slashed over $1tn from health programs, marking the largest federal healthcare rollbacks in American history.