Reader’s Digest India – July 2019

badly-ventilated kitchens. Increased

ambient PM 2.5 levels and rising

vehicular pollution are widespread

in non-metro cities too. In economic

terms, the costs for India for lost

labour output was $55 billion and for

welfare losses $505 billion, according

to a 2018 study published by the

Health Effects Institute.

Environmental factors may not be

the only culprits, however. Patients

themselves may be at fault, if uncon-

sciously. One inadvertent cause may

lie in simple genetics. Professor (Dr)

S. K. Chhabra, head of the Depart-

ment of Pulmonary Medicine, Primus

Hospital, New Delhi, and author of a

recent study on lung function among

children, observed that, genetically,

Indians have a reduced lung capac-

ity at birth compared to Caucasians.

He inferred that one reason for this

could be air pollution, which also pre-

disposes Indian children to COPD in

later life, and places them at greater

risk of heart disease.

The other is the lack of timely di-

agnosis. Patients tend to ignore the

problems associated with COPD due

to the very nature of human physio-

logy. “Our right lung has three lobes,

while our left lung has two; we hu-

mans need just two lobes to survive.

Even when a part of the organ is de-

stroyed, we continue to function, and

don’t notice the difference,” explains

Chest Research Foundation (CRF)

director Dr Sundeep Salvi, who also

chairs the Respiratory Group for the

Global Burden of Disease Study. Since

COPD manifests itself after prolonged

exposure to polluted air over several

years, patients do not experience the

symptoms soon enough to seek medi-

cal help. Thus, the disease gets diag-

nosed only at an advanced stage.

DIAGNOSING THE CONDITION

COPD is diagnosed with the help of a

spirometry test, which requires a pa-

tient to blow into a tube. However, if

they are unable to blow correctly into

the instrument, the accuracy of the re-

sults can suffer. This test is currently

considered the gold standard for

70 july 2019

indiapicture

COPD begins

insidiously and early

symptoms are often

ignored or attributed

to smoking.

Reader’s Digest