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COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. It is a disease that affects millions of people each year. As the name implies, it is a restriction of the airways within a patient's lungs. There are two primary causes that lead to COPD. The first is bronchitis and the second is emphysema. The two diseases go about achieving the end result of a blocked airway in different ways, though the end result looks very similar. COPD is a disease found primarily in adults. However there have been a few cases of childhood COPD. Bronchitis is a phlegm-filled cough. It is a common school age sickness, though it usually passes within 1-2 weeks. In adults, chronic bronchitis is the same type of cough as exhibited in children, only persisting for 3 or more months of the year in consecutive years. It can be brought on by bad air conditions, but it is far more commonly associated with smokers. It is occasionally seasonal, but in the worst cases (which are also the cases that progress into COPD) it is a year round struggle to breathe. The constant inflammation of the bronchial tubes and the phlegm producing cells causes the airways to shrink, which lowers the amount of oxygen that can be exchanged for carbon dioxide in the lung walls. Emphysema on the other hand is the inflammation of the air sacs in the lungs. The bronchial tubes are the main airways into your lungs. The lungs themselves are filled with tiny sacs which provide a great deal of surface area for oxygen to come into contact with. This surface area facilitates the exchange of the oxygen in the air for the carbon dioxide in your blood stream. The inflammation of these sacs reduces the area in which this exchange can occur. So rather than restricting the inflow of air, like bronchitis does; emphysema restricts the lungs' ability to process the air it takes in. The end result of either chronic emphysema or chronic bronchitis is COPD. The effects can be terminal if the causes are not alleviated, and in many cases the causes are built up over a lifetime. The primary risk factors for COPD are smoking, heavy air pollution, or a workplace exposure to risk factors. Examples of at-risk professions are mining (because of the dust clouds), welding (because of the fumes), and certain textile factory jobs (because of the chemicals). There are genetic factors that can increase your risk of COPD, but without an environmental exposure to risk factors, the genetic predisposition will not manifest itself. Asthma is also likely to increase your odds of COPD. The sad truth is that COPD can kill you, especially if you do not eliminate risk factors once you are diagnosed. Ongoing research indicates that in many cases, even when you eliminate the risk factors (job, smoking, poor air conditions) the disease will stay the same or even get worse for several years before starting to improve. This is because COPD is built up over a lifetime of lung degradation, and it takes time for the body to adjust. Early screening can catch the disease before it becomes life threatening, and preventative measures such as quitting tobacco smoking or working in a clean air environment are the best ways to ensure COPD does not impact your
quality of life.
Jennifer R. Scott has been writing for over ten years on a broad range of topics. She has a background that includes such diverse areas as environmentalism, cooking, animal care, and technology. If you would like more information on health studies, please visit utah COPD research, a site that will give you more information on this deadly disease.
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