Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, is a long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe. The good news is COPD is often preventable and treatable.  Here you'll find information, resources and tools to help you understand COPD, manage treatment and lifestyle changes, find support and take action.

Learn About COPD

The more you understand about COPD the better you and your loved ones can manage living with this disease.

What Is COPD?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic lung disease that causes air flow limitation (less air in and out of the airways) and breathing-related symptoms. There is no cure, but there are ways to manage and treat COPD. 

Key Points

• COPD is chronic. In other words, you live with it every day.
• It is progressive, meaning it gets worse over time.
• COPD is diagnosed by reviewing your medical history, physical examination and spirometry test results. 
• Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are also called COPD.

COPD Basics Booklet - Download our new, easy-to-use COPD Basics Booklet to learn more about COPD and help you manage your COPD better. Download the COPD Basics Booklet in Spanish
COPD Basics - Take some time to learn more about COPD by participating in our online learning module, COPD Basics.
Learning to Live with COPD Workbook - Explore the Learning to Live with COPD Workbook and get all you need to know about managing COPD. Download the Learning to Live with COPD Workbook in Spanish

How COPD Affects Your Body

Not everyone with COPD has the same symptoms. At first, you may have no symptoms or mild symptoms. As your COPD gets worse, you may have more symptoms like a cough that may bring up sputum (mucus or phlegm) or shortness of breath. 
With COPD, less air flows in and out of your airways for one or more reasons:

• airways in your lungs become narrowed due to being swollen (inflamed) and thickened 
• walls between your air sacs are destroyed
• airways and tiny air sacs lose their ability to stretch and shrink back 
• airways make more mucus which can clog them and block air flow

When less air flows into your lungs, less oxygen gets into your body tissues. Oxygen, one of the gases found in the air we breathe, is vital for our lungs and organs to work properly. Oxygen is exchanged for waste product or carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is removed from the blood stream when you exhale. When it becomes harder to get air in and out of your airways, you may have more breathing-related symptoms.

Learn Early Warning Signs

COPD is often not found until the disease is more advanced because people do not know the warning signs. Sometimes people think their shortness of breath is because they are "just getting older," and start to change day-to-day activities to avoid having more symptoms. The sooner COPD is diagnosed, the sooner treatment can begin.
COPD Facts - COPD affects 11.7 million people in America. It accounts for millions of emergency department visits and tens of billions in healthcare costs each year. Learn more about COPD trends and disease burden in our COPD Trends Brief.
Research - COPD research helps us understand how the disease is caused, how it develops and how it is best treated.

COPD in Women

More women are living with COPD compared to men and deaths from COPD are higher in women than in men. There are a few reasons why this happens.

Tobacco industries target women
Women may be more vulnerable to COPD risk factors
Women are often misdiagnosed

Join the Patient & Caregiver Network

Your community is here to support you. Whether you’re a patient living with a chronic lung disease or a caregiver, join the Patient & Caregiver Network to get direct access to timely education, support, and connection. Join now 
Source: https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/copd