It’s never late to care for lung health

According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), COPD is currently the fourth cause of death in the world, next to heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and acute lung infection, and tied for fourth place with AIDS, and by 2020 may rise to the third cause of death in the world .

What is COPD?  

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ("COPD" for short), refers to chronic bronchitis with airway obstruction and emphysema with airway obstruction. The main symptoms are prolonged cough, sputum expectoration and shortness of breath. 

Symptoms of COPD

1. Difficulty breathing is the most important symptom and it is also the main reason for the patient's physical loss and anxiety.

2. Chronic cough is often the first episode, and it is heavier in the early morning.

3. After coughing up sputum, often cough a small amount of mucus sputum, and increase the amount when infected, often purulent sputum.

4. Wheezing and chest tightness are not specific symptoms. Some patients, especially severe patients, have obvious wheezing. Auscultation has extensive inspiratory or expiratory wheezing. The tightness of the chest often occurs after exertion, which is associated with breathing effort. Intercostal muscle contraction is related.  

5. Others: Particularly heavier patients may have systemic symptoms, such as weight loss, loss of appetite, peripheral muscle atrophy and dysfunction, depression and/or anxiety, etc. Prolonged severe coughing can cause cough syncope, and it can be combined with infection,and hemoptysis of sputum.

The hazards of COPD

 When the lungs are damaged, the excretion of carbon dioxide in the lungs is blocked, and the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body will be broken. Carbon dioxide retention can lead to hypercapnia, and the inability to breathe in oxygen can lead to hypoxemia. These two pathological changes will further affect other systems in the body, such as the circulatory system, nervous system, and digestive system.

If COPD is not effectively treated for a long time, it may lead to the following serious consequences:

 ◇ The patient lost labor early and died early.

 ◇ Patients in the middle and late stages can get worse and get hospitalized frequently, with high treatment costs and a heavy economic burden.

 ◇ Due to breathing difficulties, activities are severely blocked, it is difficult to take care of themselves in later life, and the quality of life is seriously reduced.

Treatment of COPD

The main factor that causes the recurrence or aggravation of COPD is bacterial infection of the respiratory tract, and antimicrobial treatment is the first choice. There are many kinds of antibacterial drugs. When choosing, doctors will choose according to the course of the disease, the presence or absence of complications, the nature and amount of sputum, and blood test reports, and then according to clinical diagnosis and treatment experience. Patients can’t choose at will. For example, azithromycin can be used for patients with yellowish purulent sputum, cefoperazone and sulbactam can be considered for patients with yellowish purulent sputum, and levofloxacin can also be used in both cases. Doctors have strict regulations on the selection of antibacterial drugs. Patients need to evaluate the effect of the treatment for about 3 days. If it is effective, continue to use it, and if it fails, replace the drug.