Gao Mingming, Hu Mei, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Strategic Support Force Characteristic Medical Center (formerly 306 Hospital).
Edited by Liu Yan/Cui Yan, Medical Science Popularization Center
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic bronchitis with airflow obstruction characteristics, which can further develop into a common chronic disease of cor pulmonale and respiratory failure.
Scientific studies have shown that smoking is an important pathogenesis. The probability of smokers suffering from COPD is 2~8 times higher than that of non-smokers, and the longer the smoking time and the greater the amount of smoking, the higher the chance of developing COPD.
Symptoms and harms of COPD
(1) The early symptoms of COPD patients are cough, which mostly occurs in the morning, obvious when the weather turns cold, and the cough is generally white sticky sputum or serous frothy sputum, and when there is an acute exacerbation, the amount of sputum increases, and there may be purulent sputum.
(2) Patients with COPD will have symptoms such as shortness of breath and dyspnea, such as progressive dyspnea, etc., and severe patients often have weight loss and loss of appetite.
(3) With the progression of the disease, the quality of life of COPD patients becomes worse and worse, the risk of acute exacerbation, hospitalization and death of COPD increases, and they often suffer from other chronic diseases, and the disability rate and mortality rate of COPD increase.
Interventions for COPD
(1) Stable treatment: avoid triggers, reasonably select bronchodilators, inhaled glucocorticoids, expectorant drugs, etc. according to the needs of the condition, and take symptom control as the main measure.
(2) Treatment of acute exacerbation: removal of triggers, alleviation of bronchial symptoms, use of hormonal drugs, active infection control, and respiratory support.
(3) Rehabilitation treatment: including appropriate aerobic exercise, pursed lip breathing, long-term home oxygen therapy, etc. Rehabilitation therapy and adjuvant treatment of COPD can effectively reduce respiratory symptoms, improve exercise tolerance, enhance patients' physical fitness, and improve their quality of life.
Prevention of COPD
(1) Immediate cessation of smoking: Long-term smoking is one of the main causes of COPD, and quitting smoking is a direct and effective necessary measure to reduce the incidence of COPD.
(2) Moderate exercise: exercise should be gradual and persevering, improve self-immunity; COPD patients should do aerobic exercise appropriately, such as swimming, jogging, etc., to improve cardiorespiratory endurance and improve cardiopulmonary function; for patients with severe lung function, even if they do pursed lip breathing exercises, it is also exercise.
(3) Vaccination: Vaccination can be given in autumn and winter to prevent the occurrence of diseases and reduce the risk of acute respiratory infection. Avoid contact with other patients with respiratory infections, and at the same time achieve a regular life, a combination of work and rest, and ensure sleep.
In conclusion, long-term smokers, as a high-risk group for COPD, may have impaired lung function even if there are no obvious symptoms. Although there is no cure for COPD, there are many ways to enable everyone to live an active and healthy life. For free breathing, start preventing COPD today.
(The picture comes from the Internet)