clinics than in private and government-
run medical institutions.”
Thirty-eight-year-old non-smoker
Sreoshi Patranabis from Kolkata is an
example of this. As a child, she suffered
from breathlessness but it stopped after
high school, though she continued to
suffer from congestion. But five years
ago, the breathlessness returned when
she moved to an area with heavy traffic.
That was when she was tested and di-
agnosed with COPD. Patranabis is now
on inhalers, and tries to steer clear of
vehicular pollution. “I also do yoga and
breathing exercises,” she says.WHO IS MOST VULNERABLE?
According to the State of Global Air 2019
Report, India has a PM 2.5 exposure
at 91 microgram/cubic metre, as op-
posed to the WHO permissible level of
10 microgram/cubic metre. No wonder
reports claim that air pol-
lution is the third highest
killer in India, account-
ing for almost 1.2 million
deaths in 2017 alone.
In 2018, Delhi-NCR
ranked highest in overall
emissions, followed by
Chennai, according to a
Centre for Science and
Environment study. But
once thought to be an
urban problem, COPD
may account for an even
greater burden in rural
India, where biomass
fuels are used to cook inand other air pollutants such as car-
bon monoxide. Also, according to the
State of Global Air report, 2019, these,
as well as outdoor particulate mat-
ter (PM)—the potentially hazardous
solid and liquid particles suspended
in air—ozone and household air pollu-
tion have been linked to increased hos-
pitalizations, disability and death from
respiratory problems, heart disease,
stroke, lung cancer and diabetes. Those
not exposed to such factors could still
get COPD due to a rare genetic condi-
tion that predisposes them, according
to the British Lung Foundation.
Citing a 2016 Indian study by the
medical services department at Ci-
pla Limited in Mumbai, Dr Sandeep
Budhiraja, group medical director,
internal medicine at Max Healthcare
says, “COPD, surprisingly, is still seen
primarily as a smoker’s disease. Except
pulmonologists, a major-
ity of general practitioners
(GPs) and physicians re-
ported that most of their
COPD patients were smok-
ers. This indicates that GPs
and physicians, who diag-
nose this condition based
on history and clinical
symptoms alone, fail to
correctly identify COPD in
the absence of a history of
smoking, thereby missing
out on COPD cases caused
by biomass exposure and
other factors. This prob-
lem is more prevalent inHealthReadeRsdigest.co.in 69courtesy: i
ndia t
oday
“COPD, surprisingly,
is still seen primarily
as a smoker’s disease.
Many physicians fail to
diagnose COPD if there
is no history of smoking.”
Dr Sandeep Budhiraja
Max Healthcare,
New Delhi