Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

I will analyse the prevalence of the condition and what the potential causes may be. My interests have been directed to pre hospital care and community lead treatment packages, which are potentially available to the patient, as this is the acute environment, which I will have contact with in my employment as a paramedic. The initial reading was to understand COPD as a chronic condition, what is COPD? and its prevalence in the population. The (World health organisation, 2000), states that one in four deaths in the world are caused by COPD. In 2010 (Vos T Flaxman etal, 2012), says globally there were approximately 329 million, which is 4.8% of the population who are affected by this chronic condition, In the UK (NICE, 2010), have estimated that 3 million people suffer from COPD, with more yet to be diagnosed. This information about the amount of people living with this condition was surprising, as I little knowledge of its existence. During the early 1960’s (Timothy Q. Howes, 2005), says the term COPD had been designated as a single term unifying all the chronic respiratory diseases. Since then the term COPD, has been sub divided in to three umbrella areas, Bronchitis, Emphysema and Chronic asthma, which are separate conditions, which I have been previously aware of as their individual conditions. The 58 year old patient who we visited,

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease also known as COPD, is one of the third leading cause of death in the United States (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute [NHLBI], 2013a). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2015) approximately 15 million Americans are affected by COPD, with a morbidity rate of 6.8 million. Data from the CDC from 2011 states that 6.3% of the U.S population suffer from this disease; Florida has the COPD prevalence rate of 7.1% with the highest percentage going to Kentucky with a rate 9.3% as summarized by the COPD foundation (2015). CDC calculated the cost of having COPD as $32.1 billion in 2010 and they expect it to rise to $49 billion by 2020, all for a disease that could be prevented. Additionally CDC has stated the mortality rate has decreased in men in the United States from 57.0 per 100,000 to 47.6 per 100,000 from 1999 to 2010. However, regarding the rate for women, there has not been much change during the same time period. The rate shifted from 35.3 per 100,000 to 36.4 per 100,000 (CDC, 2014).

Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases also known as lung cancer is a condition of slow irreversible progressive airway obstruction which gets worse over time. This includes several obstructive diseases of the lungs, including chronic bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, cystic fibrosis and pneumoconiosis. The outcome varies with the consequences with COPD. Approximately 12 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with COPD. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

The biggest issue that contribute to the disease is smoking.It has been tested that women have had increase in smoking since the first world war. On the other had that number rapidly decreased in the last 7 decades. On the other hand 16 percent of canadians ranging from ages as young as 16 years old and older and these people would smoke everyday decreasing since the 60’s. But there was not a big significant change on the air flow being prevented to pass through the airways. Canadians ages ranging 60 to 79 were more likely to have measured COPD than those aged 35 to

These diseases are mainly caused by the use of tobacco, but also can be triggered from pollution in the air. People who are in contact with second-hand smoke may also experience COPD. Other risk-factors include poorly ventilated homes and fuels that burn during cooking. People 40 years of age or older and have some history of smoking are at increased risk for developing this condition. More than 11 million people are diagnosed with chronic obstruction pulmonary disease.

Within the confines of this assignment, it is the hope of the author that the reader will obtain an understanding of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This will be achieved by bringing the reader through the patients’ illness journey. The assignment will begin by defining COPD and briefly going through the pathophysiology and incidents of the condition. From there the reader will embark on the journey, starting with diagnosis.

COPD can be caused by a number of things, but the biggest risk factor is smoking. Other inhalable toxins can also cause

COPD is an irreversible progressive lung disease that makes it harder for people to breath. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (2015), COPD is the third leading cause of death in the United States.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (http://www.thehealthsite.com/diseases-conditions/copd/001/) is considered one of the most common causes of death in the world today and, it appears that most of the patients are active smokers. However, according to researchers, the pulmonary disease can affect everybody, not only people who smoke.

COPD which is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is known as a condition that progressively makes it harder to breathe because the airflow into and out of the lungs is reduced. This usually occurs because the airways and air sacs lose their elastic quality, the walls between the air sacs are destroyed, the walls of the airways become swollen, or if the airways are clogged because they made more mucus than usual. Three main conditions of this disease are emphysema, chronic obstructive bronchitis, and asthma. Most patients who suffer from COPD also suffer from emphysema and chronic bronchitis as to why they are commonly just defined as COPD. The patients who experience one or more of these conditions usually find it even more difficult to

All over the world, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a very significant and prevalent cause of morbidity and mortality, and it is increasing with time (Hurd, 2000; Pauwels, 2000; Petty, 2000). Due to the factor of COPD being an underdiagnosed and undertreated disease, the epidemiology (Pauwels, Rabe, 2004) is about 60 to 85 % with mild or moderate COPD remaining undiagnosed (Miravitlles et al., 2009; Hvidsten et al., 2010).

According to the Australian Nurses’ Dictionary (King, J, et.al, 2012) COPD is defined as “A combination of chronic bronchitis and emphysema in which there is disruption of air flow into or out of the lungs. Dyspnoea, wheezing and cough predominate, often made worse by any exertion or pollution in any environment. Patients may be severely disabled and require oxygen for long periods of time.” The most common cause of COPD is chronic cigarette smoking, although only 25% of smokers will develop COPD of a moderate severity. Others may develop COPD as a result of a normal decline in lung function as age progresses, these patients may suffer airflow obstruction without abnormal inflammatory changes. The airflow limitation results in three different pathological mechanisms: thickening of small airways, emphysema and luminal obstruction with mucus and plasma exudate.

Background COPD is a devastating chronic disease for those that are affected by it. Primarily comprised of chronic

There are many factors that contribute to the diagnosis of COPD. Smoking is the most common cause behind the disease. According to Healthline Networks,

COPD is a non-communicable disease and is largely preventable. Tobacco smoking was first identified as a major causative risk factor for the development of COPD by the findings of Fletcher and Peto’s 8-year prospective study of 792 men in London (Fletcher and Peto, 1977).