By By our correspondent
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the leading cause of death after heart attack, stroke, and pneumonia; more than 340 million people are suffering from this disease worldwide and the irony is that most people do not know that they are suffering from COPD. These views were expressed by Agha Khan University (AKU) Associate Professor Dr Ali Zubairi at an awareness programme on World COPD Day.
The theme of the awareness programme was ‘Breathless but Not Helpless’ and it was organised by AKU’s Section of Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine in collaboration with the World Health Organisation.
COPD is commonly known as chronic bronchitis or emphysema and it is a serious disease which narrows the lungs, leading to a limited flow of air from them.
“In Pakistan, many people go undiagnosed and untreated even though they have recognisable symptoms such as chronic cough (often called a smoker’s cough) or become short of breath after the slightest exertion,” Dr Zubairi said.
Smoking, dust and smoke from wood or other biomass used while cooking are some of the factors which put people at risk of getting the disease. Other than these symptoms, wheezing, and getting out of breath during walking could also be cited as the early signs to detect COPD, he added.
He said that smoker’s cough is the early sign of COPD but most smokers do not notice it and as a result doctors are consulted quite late which adds to the problem. Dr Zubairi added that those who are most at risk are smokers and people over the age of 40.
Moreover Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases Assistant Professor Dr Nisar Rao stressed the need for a clear communication between physicians and patients. “Most patients don’t exactly communicate their problems to their physicians and as a result the physicians don’t know the exact cause of illness or disease,” he said. He added that there is a tendency among people of not consulting doctors for some strange reasons, as most COPD patients would rather reduce their activities than to speak it out with their physicians.
Meanwhile, Dr Mohammed Naeem from AKU spoke about the advantages of pulmonary rehabilitation and said that participation of a patient is really important to diagnose this disease. He said that this disease could have severe impacts on social interaction of an individual.
Speaking about the rehabilitation process, Dr Naeem said that most of his patients leave exercise because of shortness of breath. “But the point is to not let your activities take a back seat, keep your physical exertion to a minimum but don’t stop it as it will be difficult to exercise after a certain age,” he said.
All the speakers urged the people to take preventive steps and stressed the need to properly communicate their disease with the physicians.