abroad, my cough would disappear,
but the moment I returned to Kolkata,
it came back,” he says. It was only
after he retired that his cough gradually
turned worse, frequently accompanied
by breathlessness. A visit to a pulmo-
nologist confirmed COPD.T
he term COPD was coined as
recently as 1965. The World
Health Organization (WHO)
identifies it as an umbrella term
used to describe chronic lung
diseases that cause limitations in lung
airflow. COPD leads to a narrowing of
the airways and reduction of the elas-
ticity of the air sacs that make up the
lung tissue. As a result, a patient cannot
exhale fully, leading to reduced oxygen
intake, and hence, oxidative stress (a
condition where the body does not
absorb enough oxygen due to stiffness
of the lungs). According to the WHO,
chronic bronchitis and emphysema are
the two most common conditions that
are included within COPD, the symp-
toms of which are “breathlessness,
excessive production of sputum and a
chronic cough”.NOT JUST A ‘SMOKER’S DISEASE’
India has the second highest number
of people dying of COPD, after heart
disease, as per the Global Burden of
Disease study, 1990–2016. It states,
“The contribution of chronic respira-
tory diseases to the total DALYs (Dis-
ability-Adjusted Life Years) in India
increased from 4.5 per cent in 1990 to6.4 per cent in 2016.” It further points
out that “of the total global DALYs due
to chronic respiratory diseases in 2016,
32 per cent occurred in India” and
“the number of cases of COPD in India
increased from 28.1 million in 1990 to
55.3 million in 2016”.
According to the US-based COPD
Foundation, most people suffer-
ing from this disease are exposed to
toxins, including tobacco smoke (first-
or second-hand), chemicals, such
as ammonia or asbestos, household
irritants such as dust, bacteria, mould68 july 2019
The number of cases of
COPD in India increased
from 28.1 million
in 1990 to
55.3 million
in 2016.indiapictureReader’s Digest