Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is one of the world’s leading causes of death, responsible for 3.5 million deaths in 2021 alone. It is often thought of as a disease of older smokers. But that picture is too simple. COPD usually develops slowly over many years, often long before symptoms become obvious.
COPD is a long-term lung condition that makes it harder to move air in and out of the lungs. It includes damage to the airways, often described as chronic bronchitis, and destruction of the tiny air sacs in the lungs, known as emphysema. Because this damage builds up gradually, many people do not realise anything is wrong until symptoms become difficult to ignore. There are treatments that can help, but there is no cure, and by the time COPD is diagnosed the damage is often permanent.
Common symptoms include a long-term cough, bringing up mucus and shortness of breath. These symptoms often appear later in life, which helps explain why COPD is so often seen as an older person’s disease. But in many cases, the damage started decades earlier.
Many environmental irritants can harm the lungs, but cigarette smoke remains the main cause of COPD. Cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals, including...
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