RAWALPINDI - A seminar on managing patients with Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in a new era was organized at a local hotel on Thursday with the aim to eradicate the disease and ensure its prevention.
On the occasion, University of the Withwatersand Johansberg South Africa Prof. of Pulmonogy Charles Feldman delivered a lecture about the disease.
A large number of doctors of the twin cities also participated in the seminar and asked questions about the deadly disease.
This year the International World COPD Day will be observed on November 14. This day is an yearly event organized by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease to enhance awareness and care of the (COPD) around the world.
COPD consists of a number of components including inflammation that causes limitations to airflow in the lungs and breathing difficulties affecting patients’ health quality of life and optimally survival.
Addressing the participants, Prof. Feldman said that the most common cause of COPD was environment intensive and prolonged exposure to dust, certain chemicals and indoor/outdoor pollution. “This increases the risk of COPD,” he cleared.
He said that genetic in a small group of people COPD was caused by a rare hereditary disorder.
He was feared that by the 2020 COPD was predicted to become the third leading cause of death worldwide exceeded only by heart disease and stroke.
“COPD is a fatal lung disease which kills more people each year than lung cancer and breast cancer combined,” University of the Withwatersand Johansberg South Africa Prof. of Pulmonogy stated.
He added that the symptoms of COPD include breathlessness, increased effort needed to breathe, excessive mucus, chronic cough and fatigue.
Sometimes the disease can get suddenly worse which is known as an exacerbation. An exacerbation might be defined as a worsening of any of the above symptoms or if a patient experiences an acute change in clinical state that requires prescription of antibiotics and or oral corticosteroids or hospitalization, he maintained.
The professor was of the view that the quality of life was severely affected in patients with COPD fatigue severely limits physical activity and also impacts significantly on patients work family and social life.
It was estimated that COPD would be the fifth cause of disability by 2020 following only ischemic heart disease depression traffic accidents and cerebrovascular disease.
Up to 75 per cent of patients with COPD found everyday activities including walking upstairs, washing and dressing.
The symptoms experienced by people with COPD also have a psychological impact with patients frequently experiencing feeling of anxiety helpless and depression.
As a result of the chronic nature of the disease and the disabling symptoms associated with it. COPD is confirmed by pyrometer, a diagnostic test that measurers how much air a person could inhale and exhale and how fast air can move into and out of the lungs, the professor said adding that stopping smoking was the single most effective intervention to reduce the risk of developing COPD and to stop its progression.