How to detect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease early? Which groups need to be highly vigilant? Expert answers
2023-11-30
Every autumn and winter, there are significantly more patients who go to the hospital for treatment due to coughing, wheezing, and suffocation. Among them, there are commonly referred to as "old chronic bronchitis", "old chronic asthma", and "emphysema" by the people, which is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, abbreviated as "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease". This is a common chronic respiratory disease that mainly affects the airways and lungs, leading to difficulty breathing. How to detect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease early? Which groups need to be highly vigilant? Multiple experts provided answers on this matter. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is preventable and treatable due to its high incidence rate and low awareness rate. "The common symptoms of COPD are chronic cough, expectoration, shortness of breath and gradually increasing dyspnea." At the 2023 China COPD Prevention and Control Conference held recently, Yang Ting, professor of the National Respiratory Medical Center and deputy director of the Respiratory Center of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said that COPD needs to be diagnosed by lung function tests, just like hypertension needs to be measured by blood pressure. If left untreated, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will gradually develop and lung function will gradually decline, ultimately leading to chronic respiratory failure, pulmonary heart disease, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has the characteristics of "three highs", that is, high incidence rate, high mortality and high disease burden. Yang Ting introduced that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is one of the common chronic diseases worldwide. The incidence rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the population aged 40 and above in China is 13.7%, and there is one patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in every four people aged 60 and above; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ranks third in the global single disease mortality rate, second only to stroke and ischemic heart disease; The overall disease burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has ranked second in China. Corresponding to the "three highs", chronic obstructive pulmonary disease also has the characteristics of "three lows": low awareness rate, low examination rate, and low standardized treatment rate. "COPD is a common disease that can be prevented and treated, but many people are far less familiar with COPD than hypertension, diabetes, etc., so COPD is also known as the 'silent killer'." Yang Ting said that COPD usually starts insidiously, and many patients have no obvious symptoms in the early stage. When there is difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath, they go to the hospital to have a lung function test, which is often in the middle and late stages, When we conducted epidemiological investigations, we found that the lung function test rate was less than 10%. At the same time, the standardized treatment rate for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is low, especially at the grassroots level. The main medication for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is inhaled medication, but our survey shows that antibiotics, expectorants, and even oral steroids are the most commonly used drugs at the grassroots level Timely inspection and prevention focus on staying away from risk factors. "The high-risk population for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is mainly those who are exposed to long-term risk factors, including long-term smokers, secondhand smoke exposed individuals, those who live in indoor and outdoor air pollution environments for a long time, and those who are exposed to dust and harmful gases." Yang Ting emphasized that children with a history of recurrent respiratory infections, family history of COPD, and tuberculosis infection can lead to chronic airway inflammation People with distorted or even structurally damaged airways are also high-risk groups, and it is recommended to undergo lung function testing as soon as possible. How to prevent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease? Lu Feng, Deputy Director of the Comprehensive Prevention and Control Department of the Chronic Disease Institute of the Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that prevention focuses on staying away from relevant risk factors. "Firstly, stay away from tobacco. The most important preventive measure for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is to quit smoking and also avoid exposure to second-hand smoke."
Edit：GuoGuo Responsible editor：FangZhiYou
Source：people.cn
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