You may have seen reference to something called COPD in the news or in promotional material at your local GP surgery, because there has been a huge awareness campaign about the condition recently. But what is it?

COPD stands for Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and it is the term now used to cover emphysema, chronic bronchitis or both (it’s quit common to suffer both together). Both illnesses involve the airways in the lungs becoming obstructed (so that the airflow is reduced). The main symptoms are ‘productive’ coughing (over a long period, sometimes painfully, where phlegm is produced) and feeling breathless. Frequent chest infections and blood in the sputum are common in people with COPD. COPD can be fatal.

An estimated three million people in the UK suffer from COPD and a further 500,000 may have the condition but be unaware that they do. It’s most common amongst people over 40 and the risk of developing the disease increases with age.

The main cause of COPD is smoking – the smoke inflames the airways and damages them over time. Three out of every twenty smokers who have 20-a-day go on to develop COPD, whilst a quarter of smokers who smoke 40-a-day develop CPPD. But even if you don’t smoke heavily, there is a significant risk of developing COPD. Smoking doesn’t cause all cases – it can be through anything that irritates and damages the airways, such as breathing in heavily-polluted air, or it can be genetic (though this accounts for fewer than one percent of cases).

To test whether a person has COPD, a doctor would normally examine your chest with the stethoscope but this examination can appear normal in early or mild cases of COPD. Another test is a spirometry test, which measures your lung capacity by seeing how much air your can blow into a machine (a similar test is often used to diagnose asthma). Those results are compared with results that would be expected to be seen amongst other people of your age, gender and general level of health. It may also be necessary to have a chest x-ray to exclude other possible causes of the symptoms (like lung cancer).

Once a person begins to experience the symptoms of COPD it is vital that they stop smoking if they are to have any chance of survival. Damage that has already been done to the lungs cannot be repaired, but it will stop getting worse. If smoking continues, the symptoms gradually worsen over several years and eventually quality of life is impaired. Eventually, heart failure can occur, meaning that the heart no longer pumps blood efficiently. Ultimately, the lungs become so damaged that not enough oxygen is taken in and carbon dioxide (the gas you normally breathe out) builds up in the blood. This is known as ‘end-stage COPD’ and death follows.

Around 25,000 people in the UK die from COPD each year, usually following years of ill health and poor quality of life. If you do manage to stop smoking, you will probably notice a worsening of your cough at first – that is normal, it happens as your airways start to recover, so don’t resume smoking just to ease the cough, it will get better quickly.

Next week, we will look at treatments for COPD.