What is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and how is it linked to asthma?
A. COPD is a disease that damages the lungs. In both asthma and COPD, the tubes that allow air to get in and out of the lungs are partially blocked. This makes it difficult to breathe, and leads to shortness of breath. But while the obstruction is almost always reversible in asthma, it’s at best only partially reversible in COPD. There also appear to be different inflammatory cells present in these two diseases. And although the medicines used to treat asthma and COPD are similar, treatment guidelines differ. Q.Who’s a typical COPD patient? A. Experts used to think typical COPD patients were elderly men, but the disease is becoming more prevalent in younger people and in women. In 2000, 63% of self-reported cases were in women, and, for the first time, more women than men were hospitalized with COPD. Smoking patterns may help explain this shift. Male smoking rates in the United States peaked in the 1960s; female smoking rates peaked about a decade later. There’s also increasing evidenc
