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COPD is short for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. This means in fact that we're dealing with a condition that causes an obstruction of the airways that is a long term disease.
COPD is getting more and more important: at the moment it is cause number 12 of death worldwide and in the top 5 of deaths in Western countries. Specialists estimate that COPD will be ranked second or third worldwide in 2020!
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Cause number 1 of COPD is undoubtedly tobacco smoking. Smoking is in fact responsible of approximately 90% of all COPD cases in the Western world.
Among middle aged smokers, 14% of men and 8% of women show chronic airway obstruction compatible with the diagnosis of COPD. These numbers increase dramatically with age.
Other risk factors include gender (women are more prone to the effects of smoking), socioeconomic status, occupation, pollution and genetic predisposition.
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Symptoms of COPD include coughing (smoker's cough) and breathlessness.
In severe cases COPD patients will show wheezing and symptoms of respiratory failure, like cyanosis, overinflation of the lungs and oedema.
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COPD can be diagnosed best by performing a lung function test.
The patient will perform a forced expiration in a spirometer. This will show a decline in the FEV1. This parameter measures the volume of air that is expired in the first second of the manoeuvre.
If the FEV1 is less than 80% of the normal value, additional tests should be done by the specialist to confirm the diagnosis of COPD.
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Smoking cessation will increase the functional lung capacity by approximately 5% and, more important, can stop the decline in lungfunction.
Smoking cessation should be the first thing to do in people showing any signs of beginning COPD (and in all other people as well!)
Medication used in COPD are bronchodilators and corticosteroids.
Severe cases can only be treated by surgical removal of a diseased part of the lung transplantation.
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