07:01
Unknown
Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Memorial Society Seminar
Rawalpindi: Health experts attending a seminar on ‘Chronic Diseases of Lungs and Their Preventions’ held here on Tuesday sounded alarm about an impending Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) crisis, which they insisted would be the third major cause of human deaths worldwide by the end of the current decade.
The seminar was organised by the Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Memorial Society (MKRMS) of the Jang Group of Newspapers.
According to Dr. Shazli Manzoor of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Department at the Quaid-i-Azam International Hospital, Rawalpindi, the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) caused by an abnormal inflammatory response within the lungs to noxious particles or gases was the sixth major reason of human mortality in 1990, but it would become the third biggest killer disease by 2020.
Others on the major killer disease list are Ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, lower respiratory infection, diarrhoeal disease and prenatal disorder.
In the presentation on ‘Signs, Symptoms and Curative Factors of COPD’, Dr. Shazli Manzoor said that the lung disease was characterised by progressive and not fully reversible chronic airflow limitation, resulting from the occurrence of inflammation of the larger airways (chronic bronchitis) and destruction of the smaller airways (emphysema).
He said that around two-thirds of COPD sufferers reported difficulty in the simplest of every day activities such as being out of breath after walking up stairs, while eight in 10 patients were short of breath at least a few days or a week.
The pulmonologist said that 50% of COPD patients awoke at night as a result of coughing, wheezing or breathlessness and that one-third of patients had difficulty in breathing while sitting or lying still or were breathless while talking. He said COPD symptoms in women were mostly misdiagnosed as those of asthma.
“Diagnosis of COPD and asthma are different. COPD is caused in midlife, while the onset of asthma is early in life often childhood. COPD symptoms are slowly progressive, while asthma symptoms vary from day to day. There is largely irreversible airflow limitation in COPD, while in asthma, there is largely reversible airflow limitation.”
According to the pulmonologist, COPD is caused by smoking, excessive environmental exposure and genetic factors.
“Smoking is the most common cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, one in six of its sufferers are reported to have never smoked. Chemicals, dusts, fumes, second-hand smoke, pollutants and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency are also responsible for it.”
Dr. Shazli Manzoor blamed high COPD incidence on increase in exposure to risk factors, especially tobacco and indoor air pollution, including solid fuels and biomass, in developing countries and in women.
“Exposure to biomass smoke is perhaps the biggest risk factor for COPD globally. Almost two billion kilograms biomass is burnt everyday worldwide. Also, use of mosquito coil is dangerous. Burning one mosquito coil release the same amount of PM2.5 mass as that of burning around 100-125 cigarettes. The emission of formaldehyde can be as high as that released by the burning of 51 cigarettes.”
He warned that infants of smoking parents had more respiratory illnesses like pneumonia, which might predispose them to develop chronic bronchitis later in life.
According to the pulmonologist, coughing, shortness of breath, excess sputum or phlegm, feeling like you can’t breathe and can’t take deep breath, and wheezing are the most common symptoms of COPD.
“When it’s hard to breathe, it’s hard to do anything. People with COPD avoid activities that they used to do more easily and limit activities to accommodate shortness of breath and other symptoms. Some activities include taking elevator instead of stairs, parking vehicles close to destinations to avoid walking, avoiding shopping or other similar day-to-day tasks, and staying home rather than go out with friends.”
Dr. Shazli Manzoor said that the two major causes of COPD were chronic bronchitis characterised by chronic inflammation and excess mucus production and presence of chronic productive cough, and emphysema characterised by damage to the small, sac-like units of the lung that deliver oxygen into the lung and remove the carbon dioxide and chronic cough.
Also among speakers was Dr. Aftab Akhtar of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Department at the Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad, who said COPD was a progressive disease that worsened over time and there was a need to manage it.
In a presentation on ‘Taking Control of Your COPD’, he said that there were four major components of COPD management and they included assessment and monitoring of the disease, identification and reduction of exposure to risk factors, management of stable disease, and management of disease exacerbations.
“Symptoms and objective measures of airflow should be monitored regularly to determine when to modify therapy and identify any developing complications.”
Dr. Aftab Akhtar said that GlaxoSmithKline, a global healthcare company, had invested in the BREATHE (observational cross sectional epidemiology study in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the Middle East-Asia region.
“This study aims to understand the true burden of the disease both for patients and healthcare systems across the region. It is a very large observational study covering around 60,000 subjects across 11 countries. It presents a unique opportunity for us to highlight the true burden of COPD, both in terms of its cost to society and the impact the disease has on patients and their families,” he said.
According to him, the BREATHE Study findings will improve the awareness, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of COPD, and identify any specific trends in disease management, smoking prevalence and healthcare resource consumption to characterise the COPD population throughout the region.
There followed a session during which health experts responded to the participants’ questions on COPD and asthma.
Rawalpindi: Health experts attending a seminar on ‘Chronic Diseases of Lungs and Their Preventions’ held here on Tuesday sounded alarm about an impending Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) crisis, which they insisted would be the third major cause of human deaths worldwide by the end of the current decade.
The seminar was organised by the Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Memorial Society (MKRMS) of the Jang Group of Newspapers.
According to Dr. Shazli Manzoor of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Department at the Quaid-i-Azam International Hospital, Rawalpindi, the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) caused by an abnormal inflammatory response within the lungs to noxious particles or gases was the sixth major reason of human mortality in 1990, but it would become the third biggest killer disease by 2020.
Others on the major killer disease list are Ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, lower respiratory infection, diarrhoeal disease and prenatal disorder.
In the presentation on ‘Signs, Symptoms and Curative Factors of COPD’, Dr. Shazli Manzoor said that the lung disease was characterised by progressive and not fully reversible chronic airflow limitation, resulting from the occurrence of inflammation of the larger airways (chronic bronchitis) and destruction of the smaller airways (emphysema).
He said that around two-thirds of COPD sufferers reported difficulty in the simplest of every day activities such as being out of breath after walking up stairs, while eight in 10 patients were short of breath at least a few days or a week.
The pulmonologist said that 50% of COPD patients awoke at night as a result of coughing, wheezing or breathlessness and that one-third of patients had difficulty in breathing while sitting or lying still or were breathless while talking. He said COPD symptoms in women were mostly misdiagnosed as those of asthma.
“Diagnosis of COPD and asthma are different. COPD is caused in midlife, while the onset of asthma is early in life often childhood. COPD symptoms are slowly progressive, while asthma symptoms vary from day to day. There is largely irreversible airflow limitation in COPD, while in asthma, there is largely reversible airflow limitation.”
According to the pulmonologist, COPD is caused by smoking, excessive environmental exposure and genetic factors.
“Smoking is the most common cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, one in six of its sufferers are reported to have never smoked. Chemicals, dusts, fumes, second-hand smoke, pollutants and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency are also responsible for it.”
Dr. Shazli Manzoor blamed high COPD incidence on increase in exposure to risk factors, especially tobacco and indoor air pollution, including solid fuels and biomass, in developing countries and in women.
“Exposure to biomass smoke is perhaps the biggest risk factor for COPD globally. Almost two billion kilograms biomass is burnt everyday worldwide. Also, use of mosquito coil is dangerous. Burning one mosquito coil release the same amount of PM2.5 mass as that of burning around 100-125 cigarettes. The emission of formaldehyde can be as high as that released by the burning of 51 cigarettes.”
He warned that infants of smoking parents had more respiratory illnesses like pneumonia, which might predispose them to develop chronic bronchitis later in life.
According to the pulmonologist, coughing, shortness of breath, excess sputum or phlegm, feeling like you can’t breathe and can’t take deep breath, and wheezing are the most common symptoms of COPD.
“When it’s hard to breathe, it’s hard to do anything. People with COPD avoid activities that they used to do more easily and limit activities to accommodate shortness of breath and other symptoms. Some activities include taking elevator instead of stairs, parking vehicles close to destinations to avoid walking, avoiding shopping or other similar day-to-day tasks, and staying home rather than go out with friends.”
Dr. Shazli Manzoor said that the two major causes of COPD were chronic bronchitis characterised by chronic inflammation and excess mucus production and presence of chronic productive cough, and emphysema characterised by damage to the small, sac-like units of the lung that deliver oxygen into the lung and remove the carbon dioxide and chronic cough.
Also among speakers was Dr. Aftab Akhtar of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Department at the Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad, who said COPD was a progressive disease that worsened over time and there was a need to manage it.
In a presentation on ‘Taking Control of Your COPD’, he said that there were four major components of COPD management and they included assessment and monitoring of the disease, identification and reduction of exposure to risk factors, management of stable disease, and management of disease exacerbations.
“Symptoms and objective measures of airflow should be monitored regularly to determine when to modify therapy and identify any developing complications.”
Dr. Aftab Akhtar said that GlaxoSmithKline, a global healthcare company, had invested in the BREATHE (observational cross sectional epidemiology study in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the Middle East-Asia region.
“This study aims to understand the true burden of the disease both for patients and healthcare systems across the region. It is a very large observational study covering around 60,000 subjects across 11 countries. It presents a unique opportunity for us to highlight the true burden of COPD, both in terms of its cost to society and the impact the disease has on patients and their families,” he said.
According to him, the BREATHE Study findings will improve the awareness, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of COPD, and identify any specific trends in disease management, smoking prevalence and healthcare resource consumption to characterise the COPD population throughout the region.
There followed a session during which health experts responded to the participants’ questions on COPD and asthma.
Posted in: National
0 comments:
Post a Comment