What you can do to prevent COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a condition of long-lasting obstruction of the airways that occurs with chronic bronchitis, emphysema or both. Inhaled toxins are the single most common cause of COPD. These toxins irritate the airways that go from the throat to the lungs, causing the inflamed mucus lining to leak mucus into the lungs.
Tobacco smoking is the number one risk factor associated with COPD. Since tobacco smoking as an addiction is seen all over the world, the number of people suffering from COPD seems to be an ever-growing number.
As COPD is a progressive disease, one has to understand the risk factors to improve their management of symptoms and halt the rapid progression of the disease. In the US, an estimated 14 million people have been diagnosed with COPD of which 12.5 million people have chronic bronchitis, and 1.7 million people have emphysema. Several millions may be undiagnosed and therefore unaccounted for in terms of numbers.
To understand what one can do to manage and control their risk to COPD, it is helpful to break them down risk posing factors as those that can be controlled, those that can only be partially controlled and risks that cannot be controlled.
Smoking – A major risk factor
In the US, more than 120,000 people die each year from COPD. Between 80 and 90 % of all these COPD deaths are due to smoking. In the UK, COPD clamis 30,000 people every year. Most sufferers of COPD are smokers or smokers who quit the habit. If a person has never smoked, the likelihood of that person developing COPD is very low.
Tobacco smoke contains numerous poisonous chemicals and toxins. The prolonged exposure over several years to tar in cigarette smoke leads to the narrowing of the bronchioles and destruction of the lung’s filtering system. With habitual smoking, toxins and chemicals in tobacco smoke cause a build-up in the lungs over time which may cause permanent damage to lung tissue.
If you are a smoker and diagnosed with COPD giving up smoking can stop the disease from progressing even faster to the final fatal stage. Since there is correlation between the numbers of years one has smoked and the number of cigarettes one smokes on an average and the occurrence of COPD, people who are casual smokers or still not affected with COPD should quit smoking.
Controlling Other Risk Factors of COPD
Apart from tobacco smoke, other harmful substances that get into the lungs through breathing and damage them permanently are toxic chemicals, cotton dust and chemical dust or fumes.
Where smoke, chemical dust or fumes are occupational hazards that you cannot escape from use breathing aids that help filter these elements. Let your work area get as much ventilation and circulation of fresh air as possible.
Limit the time you spend exposed to secondhand smoke and industrial equipment or household appliances that give off emissions that cause respiratory ailments.
Risks Beyond Control
Some individuals are genetically predisposed to COPD due to a rare deficiency called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. This inhibits the production of a vital protein that protects lungs from damage. Other factors that affect lung health, such as asthma and low birth weight, can also hasten the progress of COPD.