Vijayawada: Regular lung check-up can prevent COPD

Vijayawada: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) was not one single disease but an umbrella term used to describe chronic lung diseases that cause limitations in lung airflow. The most common symptoms of COPD are breathlessness, or a 'need for air', and a chronic cough.

However, COPD was not just simply a 'smoker's cough', but an under-diagnosed, life threatening lung disease that may progressively lead to death. To avoid such deaths, Lungs check-up should be made like BP check-up and diabetes check-up. India ranks second in the world after China in terms of number of cases of COPD but when it comes to deaths due to COPD, India has surpassed China and ranks first, according to the 2016 Global Burden of Diseases study.

There were more than 55 million patients in India, making India the COPD capital of the world. Three to four percent of Vijayawada population were facing the problem of COPD, said Dr Kanuri Srinivas.

In a press release on Monday, Dr Srinivas said that despite being one of the major killer diseases in India, very little was known to general public about COPD. Smoking, exposure to industrial smoke, long term use of firewood lead to progressive condition called COPD, now popularly understood as Lung attack, doctor points out.

Early diagnosis not only leads to better management of the condition but also improve the quality of life of the patients and the care givers. He adds "Lung check-up, like BP and sugar check should be in the mind space of general public in our country. Spirometry was the most common lung function test.

It measures how much and how quickly you can move air out of your lungs with the help of a machine called a Spirometer. Many doctors believe, Spirometry is the gold standard for diagnosis of COPD was not routinely done and diagnosis was largely based on the doctor's clinical acumen.