COPD: underdiagnosed and funny name
For experts, ignorance about the disease, which is maintained over time, could be due to its difficult name , an issue that has been debated for a long time among the experts.
WHO calls tobaccosis although 20% of individuals do not smoke , however, the president of SEPAR, Pilar de Lucas, ruled renaming of COPD by tobaccosis (used by the WHO) because, although Smoking is the main factor causing this disease, there is a 20% non-smoking patients with COPD who have the same
symptoms.
COPD is underdiagnosed disease that is often confused with asthma. Diagnosed soon and is diagnosed late, because subjects who suffer do not pay attention to your symptoms. Detecting COPD in time can, in many patients, make it go away. Also, could prevent progression to more severe stages, where the patient is worsening their quality of life (you may have to enter the hospital between 5 and 7 times a year).
Women smokers, increased risk of COPD
Smoking is the leading cause of COPD. The 80% of patients with this disease have been smokers , although only between 15 and 20% of smokers develop the disease. Therefore, a pulmonologist at the Hospital Virgen del Rocio in Seville Jose Luis Lopez-Campos, warns that in 15 to 20 years, an "epidemic of female smokers" who will be affected by COPD. The doctor notes that women are still "the collective in which the consumption of snuff is maintained and even increases among the young. "
