Medical Edge Newspaper Column

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): One More Reason Not to Smoke

February 24, 2008
READERS: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one more reason not to smoke. This disabling breathing disorder is increasingly becoming a problem, especially for women. The most important risk factor for COPD is long-term cigarette smoking.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a broad term that describes any of a group of illnesses that block airflow through the lungs. The most common are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Signs and symptoms of COPD — persistent cough, increased mucus production, shortness of breath and frequent colds and respiratory problems — often develop gradually, and people don't realize they have the disease until it's advanced.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. The COPD death rate for women rose much faster between 1980 and 2000 than it did for men. In 2000, the number of women dying of COPD surpassed men for the first time. According to recent research, women with the disease experience more breathlessness, higher rates of depression and lower quality of life than men with the disease — even though women reported fewer years of smoking than men.

The increased rate of COPD in women likely reflects the increase in the number of woman smokers since the 1940s, when advertisers began promoting smoking as a symbol of independence for women.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can be treated, but not cured. The most important treatment is to stop smoking. For smokers with COPD, quitting smoking reduces subsequent loss of lung function by half and cuts the death rate by nearly half. And some better news for women is that those who quit smoking receive twice as great an improvement in lung function as men.

— Adapted from Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource