What Is COPD Disease?

COPD Definition

The goal of this article is to answer several basic questions about COPD. What is COPD disease? Is there a simple COPD definition? What are the COPD stages and what is COPD life expectancy.

What is COPD? If you're looking for a simple COPD definition, the National Institutes of Health offers one that's straightforward and easy to understand: "COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a progressive disease that makes it hard to breathe." According to the American Lung Association, COPD is a "very serious" disease. You may be surprised to learn that it is the fourth leading cause of in the United States. Approximately 12 million people have already been diagnosed with COPD, and medical researchers believe there are many more who probably have the disease but don't know it.

As explained in our article on COPD causes, most people get COPD because they've smoked cigarettes for a long time. But there are other possible causes too, including long-term exposure to certain substances that irritate or inflame the lungs. These include various forms of air pollution, chemical fumes, or dust, etc.

When you have COPD disease, your lungs have been damaged so that air doesn't flow in and out as efficiently as it should. Your lungs are made up numerous tiny sacs and air passageways, When these passageways and sacs are damaged by years of exposure to cigarette smoke or irritants, a number of negative results can causes breathing problems and coughing. The air sacs and passageways may lose their elastic quality, which affects inhaling and exhaling. The walls of the airways can become thick and inflamed - or even destroyed. There may also be an accumulation of mucus, which obstructs and blocks the flow of air.

In the United States, the term "COPD" is considered to include two forms of lung disease: emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

COPD stages There are four COPD stages. Doctors use a diagnostic tool known as a spirometry test to determine which stage a patient has reached. You breathe as hard as you can through a hose into a spirometer machine. The spirometer measures the amount of air your lungs can hold and how fast you can blow air out.

Based on the results of this test, your doctor will make a judgement about which COPD stage you've reached.

At risk You don't have COPD yet, but there's a possibility it may develop. You may have early symptoms like chronic cough and sputum production.

Mild The spirometer test reveals mild airflow limitation, and early symptoms like chronic cough and sputum production may be present. But at this stage, the patient may not have even noticed any breathing limitations.

Moderate The test reveals increasing airflow limitation and worsening symptoms. The patient begins to notice recurring shortness of breath, especially during mild exertion. This is the COPD stage where people begin to realize they should talk to their doctor.

Severe There is distressing airflow limitation and breathing difficulties after even slight exertion. This COPD stage is characterized by complications like respiratory failure or signs or heart problems. Quality of life is markedly reduced, and symptoms can be so bad that they actually threaten survival.

COPD life expectancy It's hard to judge COPD life expectancy because there are so many variables that must go into the calculation. Nonetheless, researchers have developed a tool known as the BODE Index that measures an individual's degree of lung impairment how much COPD disease impacts the entire body as a whole.

The BODE index is rather complicated and should be explained by a medical professional. But we can share the results of one recent study of COPD life expectancy which revealed approximately 70 percent of patients diagnosed with severe COPD survived for at least one year. After two years, approximately half or 50 percent were still living. At the three year mark, COPD life expectancy was 43 percent.

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