World COPD Day: Why COPD remains under diagnosed in India?
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a group of lung diseases that block airflow and make it difficult to breathe. World COPD Day is observed on 18th November every year. World COPD Day raises awareness about the chronic inflammatory lung condition. World COPD Day is organized by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) in collaboration with health care professionals and COPD patient groups throughout the world
The most common of these diseases are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. COPD is a progressive life-threatening lung disease that causes breathlessness and serious illness. The Global Burden of Disease Study reports a prevalence of 251 million cases of COPD globally in 2016. Untreated, COPD can lead to a faster progression of disease, heart problems, and worsening respiratory infections. COPD is currently the third leading cause of death globally and is highly prevalent in low resource countries.
COPD symptoms include wheezing, chest tightness, breathing difficulties, chronic cough, respiratory infections, fatigue, unintentional weight loss, and swelling of the legs, feet, and ankle. The main cause of COPD is smoking, but nonsmokers can get COPD too.
Other risk factors for COPD include:
- Exposure to air pollution
- Breathing secondhand smoke
- Working with chemicals, dust and fumes
- A genetic condition called Alpha-1 deficiency
Also, commonly-used things like mosquito repellent coils used at home can cause COPD as exposure to the same at night was found to be equivalent to smoking 100 cigarettes together.
Why COPD remains under diagnosed in India?
A study has found out that COPD is the second leading cause of death and suffering in India accounting for 0.89million deaths every year. Most of the people are still unaware of this disease (especially in the rural areas). It is hard to diagnose and it can affect non – smokers too, therefore it does not receive enough recognition. Sometimes people confuse it with other lung diseases like asthma. As a result, COPD is majorly under-diagnosed.
