COPD Research Paper

Moderately severe. At this COPD stage, the limitation of airflow begins to worsen and is easy to see on a spirometry test. Symptoms like coughing and sputum production will begin to increase, most people don’t even know they have a problem at this stage. Severe COPD almost always has a noticeable impact on your quality of life. Breathing function continues to decline. Very severe. At this level of COPD, quality of life is often extremely affected. Breathing difficulties can even be life-threatening, and the lack of airflow coming into the lungs starts to affect the heart and circulatory system. COPD affects over 24 million Americans and our community stretches across all 50 states. 2013 marks the first year ever that we are able to see the COPD prevalence rate for all 50 states thanks to the new data put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavior Risk Surveillance Survey, which is the nation’s largest telephone health

Have you ever known a person who smokes and has a hard time doing every day activities, due to difficulty of breath, or constantly coughing. He or she may have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD. COPD is a progressive and treatable lung disease that causes shortness of breath due to obstruction of air way (COPD, 2013). Progressive means that is gradually gets worse over time. It is a combination of chronic bronchitis and emphysema (Causes,2014). Chronic bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchioles, which causes mucus build up (Davis,2016). Emphysema is when the air sacs get enlarged (Smoking, 2016). Since the disease does not have a cure yet it is important to know pathology (path of disease), epidemiology (who is effected in a population), ethology (who is effected genetically), manifestation (symptoms), treatment, and outcome.

The cause of COPD is from long term smokers and also from people who smoke marijuana which increases a higher risk of COPD. Normally it begins with a cold or infection of the pharynx. Chest pain along with coughing having shortness of breath, and wheezing

The main symptoms of COPD are long lasting cough, mucus that come up when you cough, and when you exercise (or even just walk up the stairs) shortness of breath can get worse. When COPD gets worse, it gets harder to eat or exercise, and breathing takes much more energy. People often lose weight and get weaker. Symptoms might even flare up and get much worse. This is called COPD exacerbation. An exacerbation can range from mild to life threatening. The longer you have this disease, the more severe the flare up can get.

COPD can create for quite a long time without perceptible shortness of breath. You start to see the indications in the more created phases of the infection. That is the reason it is imperative that you converse with your specialist when you see any of these manifestations.

COPD is a progressive lung disease which affect your ability to breath. You have less airflow in your lungs due to one or all of the following: airways and air sacs lose their elastic quality, walls between the air sacs are destroyed or become thick and inflamed. You may also make more mucus than usual, which can clog the airways. COPD also affects your way of life due to your inability to normal life things such as going for walks, working around your house or even being able to hold a job in some cases, which then can cause financial difficulties. COPD affects up to 16 million Americans with millions more going undiagnosed.

The pharmacologic treatment of COPD includes bronchodilators. Medication such Albuterol, levalbuterol, and ipratropium, are bronchodilator that comes in inhalant or liquid form that you add in to nebulizer. These medications relax the muscles around your airways. Anti-inflammatories are also used to help reduce the swelling and mucus production inside the airways. “Drugs used to treat asthma and COPD include drugs to block inflammation and drugs to dilate bronchi”(Karch, 2013, p. 941). Oxygen therapy is use as additional therapy for COPD patients. Managing the exacerbations includes treatment such as antibiotic, because bacterial or viral infection can cause exacerbation. Flu and Pneumococcal vaccination is also recommended to COPD

According to the Australian Nurses’ Dictionary (King, J, et.al, 2012) COPD is defined as “A combination of chronic bronchitis and emphysema in which there is disruption of air flow into or out of the lungs. Dyspnoea, wheezing and cough predominate, often made worse by any exertion or pollution in any environment. Patients may be severely disabled and require oxygen for long periods of time.” The most common cause of COPD is chronic cigarette smoking, although only 25% of smokers will develop COPD of a moderate severity. Others may develop COPD as a result of a normal decline in lung function as age progresses, these patients may suffer airflow obstruction without abnormal inflammatory changes. The airflow limitation results in three different pathological mechanisms: thickening of small airways, emphysema and luminal obstruction with mucus and plasma exudate.

In the United States, the most common irritant that causes COPD is cigarette smoke. Pipe, cigar, and other types of tobacco smoke also can cause COPD, especially if the smoke is inhaled.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, also known as COPD, is the third leading cause of death in the United States. COPD includes extensive lungs diseases such as emphysema, non-reversible asthma, specific forms of bronchiectasis, and chronic bronchitis. This disease restricts the flow of air in and out of the lungs. Ways in which these limitations may occur include the loss of elasticity in the air sacs and throughout the airways, the destruction of the walls between air sacs, the inflammation or thickening of airway walls, or the overproduction of mucus in airways which can lead to blockage. Throughout this paper I am going to explain the main causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and ways to reduce COPD.

COPD patients experience shortness of breath and suffer from tightness in their chest, which leads to wheezing and laboured breathing. Damage to the lung parenchyma and recoiling mechanisms causes poor oxygenation of blood and accumulation of carbon dioxide (GOLD, 2006). COPD is characterized by persistent cough, sputum production due to excess mucus secretion by damaged airways and impaired ciliary mucus clearance. Expectoration of

Common signs and symptoms in the early stages of COPD include: an ongoing cough or a cough that produces a lot of mucus (often called “smokers cough”), Shortness of breath; especially with physical activity, wheezing (a whistling or squeaky sound when you breathe), and chest tightness. You may also often have colds or the flu. Over time your symptoms may become severe like; blueness of the lips or fingernail beds, frequent respiratory infections, lack of energy, swelling in your ankles; feet, or legs; weight loss; and lower muscle endurance. The symptoms will depend on how much lung damage you have.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a respiratory illness that progressively worsens over time. As seen in Mr. Adam’s case, symptoms include dyspnea, wheezing, and an occasional productive cough,.1 Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis are the two main conditions of COPD, and can occur simultaneously in patients.1 Moreover, cigarette smoking or long-term exposure to environmental pollutants and chemical fumes can increase the likelihood of developing COPD. In emphysema, the alveoli are large and irregularly shaped due to a decrease in elastic fibers, which leads to decreased gas exchange.1,2 In chronic bronchitis, the bronchi are constantly inflamed and thick mucus make it difficult to breathe.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease which can be characterized by chronic obstruction of lung airflow that interferes with normal breathing and is not fully reversible. COPD can be a life threatening underlying diagnosis. A COPD diagnosis can be confirmed by a simple test called spirometry. This test would show how deeply a person can breathe and how fast air can move into and out of the lungs. At the initial stage, COPD may not cause any symptoms or show only mild signs. As the disease worsens symptoms such as, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest tightness and persistent cough with phlegm that never seems to go away. The risk factors of COPD include:

Effective preventative and treatment strategies need to be devised and implemented to control COPD (Rennard & Drummond,