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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung condition that makes it hard to breathe. It can cause symptoms like coughing with increased phlegm, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. 1
There are mainly 2 types of COPD:
Prevalence of COPD
COPD is a significant global health concern and the third leading cause of death worldwide.3
In Singapore, COPD ranks as the tenth leading cause of death, impacting about 5.9% of the general population and 26% of those aged 55 and older. From 2007 to 2020, Google searches for COPD increased, reflecting a rise in COPD-related health concerns and greater online information-seeking in Singapore.3
COPD was the ninth leading cause of years of life lost in 2017.4 COPD accounted for 1.2% of deaths in 2020, 1.1% in 2021, and 1.2% in 2022.5
Risk Factors Associated With COPD
Smoking is the most common cause of COPD. Less commonly, people can also get COPD from breathing in toxic fumes, gases, or inorganic dusts. There may also be a genetic predisposition to COPD.
Diagnosis of COPD
The gold standard for the diagnosis of COPD is spirometry, which is a lung function test. During a spirometry, you take in a deep breath and blow out as hard and as fast as you can into a machine. This machine measures both the volume of air breathed out and the speed at which it is expelled. 7
Management of COPD
The main approaches to managing COPD include: 2,4,8,9
- Avoid Smoking
- Cutting down on smoking can improve your health, no matter how long you have smoked or how many cigarettes you smoke a day
- Consult your family doctor if you have trouble quitting smoking
- Inhalers
- Inhalers help to open up the airways, and can also help to reduce swelling in the airways
- You may also require a standby inhaler to relieve symptoms should you get sudden worsening of your breathlessness
- Many people often require more than 1 inhaler at a time
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation
- This teaches you to improve your symptoms via physical activity and breathing exercises
- Even without pulmonary rehabilitation, regular physical activity can help improve your breathing
- Preventing infections
- Vaccinations against pneumococcal disease and influenza can reduce your risk of infections which can cause COPD to flare up
References
1. COPD – What Is COPD? | NHLBI, NIH. Available at: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/copd. Accessed on: 02 August 2024.
2. Agarwal AK, Raja A, Brown BD. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559281/. Accessed on: 02 August 2024.
3. Fang Y, Shepherd TA, Smith HE. Examining the Trends in Online Health Information-Seeking Behavior About Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Singapore: Analysis of Data From Google Trends and the Global Burden of Disease Study. J Med Internet Res. 2021;23(10):e19307.
4. MOH Clinical Practice Guidelines 2/2017 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Executive Summary. Available at: https://www.moh.gov.sg/docs/librariesprovider4/guidelines/copd-cpg-2017_summary-card.pdf. Accessed on: 02 August 2024.
5. MOH Principal Causes of Death. Available at: https://www.moh.gov.sg/resources-statistics/singapore-health-facts/principal-causes-of-death. Accessed on: 02 August 2024.
6. COPD – Causes and Risk Factors | NHLBI, NIH. Available at: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/copd/causes. Accessed on: 02 August 2024.
7. COPD – Diagnosis | NHLBI, NIH. Available at: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/copd/diagnosis. Accessed on: 02 August 2024.
8. Managing stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Focusing on inhalers. Available at: https://www.ace-hta.gov.sg/docs/default-source/acgs/managing-stable-copd—focusing-on-inhalers-(sep-2018).pdf. Accessed on: 02 August 2024.
