Is COPD a dangerous disease?
Although COPD is an important public health problem all over the world, it is a disease that is not sufficiently known by the public. The prevalence of COPD is 15-20% in adults over the age of 40. In other words, one out of every 5 people over the age of 40 in our society has COPD. However, only one of 10 COPD patients consulted a doctor and was able to get a correct diagnosis. In this case, only 300-500 thousand of the 3-5 million COPD patients in our country know that they have the disease.
Is COPD a dangerous disease?
According to the Global Burden of Disease Study data, COPD causes 2.9 million deaths annually. COPD, which has become the third cause of death in the world today, is responsible for 5.5% of all deaths. respiratory disease in Turkey is the most common cause of death and 3. This is because 61.5% of COPD deaths. The fact that the society does not have sufficient information about COPD makes early diagnosis and effective treatment of the disease difficult.
What causes COPD? Who Is It Appeared?
Worldwide, the most common risk factor for the development of COPD is cigarette smoke. Smokers have more respiratory complaints, more respiratory function loss, and higher COPD mortality rates than non-smokers. Other types of tobacco use (pipe, cigar, hookah, etc.) and environmental tobacco smoke also contribute to the development of COPD. Although the role of genetic risk factors in the development of COPD has not been well elucidated yet, it is known that inequality in health, especially indoor air pollution secondary to the use of biomass (wood, dung, root-like fuel) and working in dusty-smoky workplaces are the most important environmental risk factors. “Reduction in physical activity, inactivity”, whose importance has been increasingly emphasized in recent years, is now considered a risk factor.
What are the complaints of a patient with COPD?
The most common complaints in COPD are shortness of breath, cough and sputum production. Smokers get used to cough and sputum and therefore do not consult a doctor. Physical activity decreases due to shortness of breath. The person who has shortness of breath on exertion does not want to walk the road, reduces his daily work, hesitates to go to the market and over time becomes preferable not to leave the house. In this way, the gradual decrease in physical activity disrupts the life quality of the patient and causes the disease to progress, leading to disability and death.
In patients with COPD followed up for 20 years, a 30-40% decrease has been found in both hospital admissions due to COPD and death rates due to this disease in patients who walk for two hours or more per week. For this reason, it is necessary to increase physical activity in both preventing this disease and preventing its progression.
How is COPD diagnosed?
The diagnosis of COPD can be made easily with the “breath measurement test”, which is a simple and painless test. Early diagnosis of COPD will reduce disability and mortality rates due to the disease. For this reason, if at least one of the complaints of chronic cough, sputum and shortness of breath is present in people over the age of 40, smoking or drinking and / or in dusty environments for occupational or environmental conditions, the person can be seen by a pulmonologist. measurement test ”must be done.
Is it possible to treat COPD?
Although COPD is a progressive disease, it is a preventable and treatable disease. The first thing a patient with COPD should do is apply to a physician to quit smoking. Smoking addiction is a disease that can be treated. Apart from this, avoiding other harmful dust and smoke, vaccination for influenza and pneumonia, and the recommendation and implementation of physical activity as well as inhalation medication; It is an important step in both disease development and prevention of disease progression and its adverse consequences. There is no need for heavy exercises for sufficient physical activity, moderate intensity physical activity done most days of the week is sufficient. Walking, an activity that anyone can do, can provide almost all the benefits of regular physical activity.
