How do I know if I have COPD?
COPD | 10/24/2024
Do you have a persistent cough? Do you have difficulty in breathing especially during exercise that's gotten progressively worse with time? If you're over 40 and you have these respiratory symptoms, you may be dealing with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
What is COPD?
As a chronic illness, COPD is an inflammatory lung disease that leads to airflow obstruction1. This tightening of the lungs occurs most often in older people – especially those over the age of 60.
The most known risk factor for the development of COPD is tobacco smoke – both first and secondhand smoke. Exposure to gases, dusts or fumes in the workplace or indoor and outdoor pollution are also risk factors for COPD. Smokers with occupational exposure have even higher risk for getting COPD2. Also, if you’ve already been diagnosed with asthma, you may have an increased risk of COPD if you smoke.
Unlike asthma, COPD is a persistent and progressive condition. It’s important to take COPD, and quitting smoking, seriously because without a proper treatment the condition affects life expectancy.
How is COPD diagnosed?
It is important to talk to the doctor if you experience symptoms like persistent cough, shortness of breath or wheezing. It is not normal to have a persistent cough even if you smoke. Characterised by a wet cough which often manifests as the need to clear your throat, COPD is a progressive condition. Yet, with active treatment, it is possible to reduce symptoms and slow down disease progression.
The diagnosis of COPD is based on symptoms, your history of smoking and occupational exposure and the lung function test results. As people often get used to symptoms, many people with COPD are diagnosed with acute or chronic bronchitis several times before receiving a proper COPD diagnosis.
To know if your difficulty in breathing can be attributed to COPD, the doctor will have you perform a spirometry test to measure your airflow. Your doctor will ask you questions about your history of smoking and your occupational exposure, as well as check for other illnesses that could contribute to a worsening of symptoms, like heart disease. They might also request further testing, including a lung scan, to rule out other lung problems.
How is COPD treated?
If you get a COPD diagnosis, your doctor will work with you to create a treatment plan to ease your symptoms and improve your prognosis. There are medications available for people living with COPD and exercise plays a crucial role in pulmonary rehabilitation.
The best way to start treating your COPD symptoms is to stop smoking and eliminate exposure to any fumes that could have contributed to the disease’s development. Your doctor will prescribe inhaled medication as part of your treatment plan. The medication will be planned personally according to your symptoms, exacerbations history and blood testing. It will include bronchodilators and if beneficial in your case, also anti-inflammatory treatment (inhaled corticosteroids). Bronchodilators assist your bronchial tubes to stay open and inhaled corticosteroids aim to suppress chronic inflammation.
It’s also important to treat any additional conditions that can worsen the symptoms of COPD, like high blood pressure. Healthy diet plays also important part of pulmonary rehabilitation as malnutrition develops for many people living with COPD as disease progresses3.
COPD is a serious illness that can’t be cured, but after quitting smoking and with proper treatment it’s possible to slow down progression of the disease, keep your symptoms under control and and improve your quality of life.
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References:
1. The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD). Global strategy for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of COPD 2024. Available at: goldcopd.org
2. Pallasaho P, Kainu A, Sovijärvi A et al. Combined effect of smoking and occupational exposure to dusts, gases or fumes on the incidence of COPD. COPD. 2014 Feb;11:88-95.
3. Nguyen HT, Collins PF, Pavey TG et al. Nutritional status, dietary intake, and health-related quality of life in outpatients with COPD. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2019;14:215-226.
Not just a ‘smoker’s cough’: 3 symptoms that could be COPD
Even for people who smoke, respiratory symptoms are not normal or inevitable – and they could be a sign of a condition called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Orion Corporation is a globally operating Finnish pharmaceutical company. We develop, manufacture and market human and veterinary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The dry powder inhaler developed at Orion is in the core of our respiratory therapy area.
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