The condition – which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema – leads to obstruction and respiratory symptoms like chronic cough, wheezing, and shortness of breath
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD - a progressive lung disease that makes breathing difficult is making it worse for the residents of Delhi-NCR who are battling harrowing pollution and smog levels.
The condition – which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema – leads to obstruction and respiratory symptoms like chronic cough, wheezing, and shortness of breath. According to experts, COPD is a leading cause of death worldwide, affecting millions of people.
The World Health Organisation says currently COPD affects 63 million people across the world – making breathing increasingly difficult. In fact, air pollution contributed significantly to the 3.1 million deaths caused by COPD in 2021, underscoring its deadly impact.
How does COPD change your lungs?
When you get COPD, a few changes in your lungs and airways it causes include:
- Loss of elasticity in your airways and air sacs in your lungs
- Extreme inflammation, scarring, and narrowing of your airways
- Thick mucus in your airways
- Destruction of the walls between your alveoli. This enlarges them and traps air
According to doctors, those who have COPD often get exacerbations - worsening symptoms, like severe difficulty breathing, thicker mucus, wheezing, and extreme cough. You may also need to go to the hospital for severe exacerbations.
Experts say COPD gets progressively worse over time along with frequent flare-ups which become more severe and happen more often. This usually takes years or decades, though some people get worse faster.
Signs and symptoms of COPD
A few signs and symptoms of COPD include:
- Cough with mucus
- Difficulty taking a deep breath
- Breathlessness, especially when performing daily activities or with mild exertion
- Wheezing
- Barrel-shaped chest
- Bluish skin
What leads to COPD?
According to experts, COPD is caused by damage to your lungs from smoking, which is the most common cause of this condition. However, a few other causes include:
- Aplha-1 antitrypsin deficiency – a genetic disorder that leads to lung damage.
- Secondhand smoke
- Exposure to air pollution
- Exposure to dust and fumes
What are the complications that COPD causes?
COPD traps bacteria in your lungs, which causes recurrent and frequent infections. It also causes oxygen deficit preventing it from getting into your body and carbon dioxide from getting out. It then leads to serious and life-threatening complications like:
- Pneumonia
- High levels of carbon dioxide in your blood
- Low levels of oxygen in your blood or hypoxemia
- Respiratory failure
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Heart failure on the right-sided heart failure
- Collapsed lung
- Too many red blood cells
Ways to prevent COPD
Doctors say the best way to prevent COPD is to avoid exposure to smoking – both first and secondhand—and exposure to pollution levels that damage your lungs. People with COPD get respiratory infections that cause pneumonia or severe exacerbations of their symptoms. A few ways you can reduce your risk of infections include:
- Get all of your vaccinations including flu and COVID-19
- Washing your hands and keeping them clean
- Disinfecting surfaces
- Wearing a mask in public
- Avoiding crowded places during the flu season
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