COPD

What is COPD?

COPD stands for Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and refers to all chronic obstructive diseases of the lung.

More than 600,000 people in the UK are known to have COPD and it is the sixth most common cause of death in England and Wales, killing more than 30,000 people a year.

Causes for the narrowing of the bronchi can be:

Bronchospasm: Cramping of the bronchi muscles

Edema: Swelling of the bronchi's mucous membrane

Hypercriny: Mass slime-production due to chronic air passage inflammation (chronic bronchitis)

What causes COPD?

Smoking is risk factor number one. Nine out of ten COPD patients used to smoke or still do so.

Another risk factor is the exposition to organic or inorganic dust, primarily at the working place.