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COPD RESOURCES
The CCA can help
Physicians looking for
support in diagnosing and treating the disease
are encouraged to turn to the CCA. "The CCA is
a network of industry, medical practitioners and
government organizations with the goal of decreasing
the burden of COPD among Canadians," says Dr Goldstein.
The
CCA will host a conference entitled Raising the
Standard of Care in COPD, featuring the latest
in COPD treatment and research in Montreal, November
26 to 28.
For more info: 613-569-6411 or visit www.lung.ca/CCA/conference
Seminal
overview
The Lancet
is currently running a five-part series of seminars
on advances in the understanding and treatment
of COPD.
The series runs from August 14.
For more info: www.thelancet.com
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Each year, the journey up the
stairs seemed to grow longer and longer. As sixty-year-old
Paula Burton huffed
and puffed her way to bed each night, she assumed that
her breathlessness was just one of the unpleasant side
effects of aging. It never occurred to her that her lungs
were failing. Inside the year she'd be dead from chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
This year more Canadian women will
die from COPD than breast cancer, according to an article
in the June issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine.
What's more, COPD is the only major disease in North
America with an increasing mortality rate, and it's
our fourth most common cause of death.
OVERLOOKED
DISEASE
Despite of these ominous statistics, COPD is often overlooked
or misdiagnosed. Dr Roger Goldstein, chair of the Canadian
COPD Alliance (CCA), believes that there are several
reasons why the condition is neglected. "It's not on
your radar like AIDS," he says. "People affected by
COPD aren't politically active." And let's face it,
these days smoking-related illnesses evoke little sympathy.
"Ninety-six percent of people with COPD have it on the
basis of a smoking history," says Dr Goldstein. "People
feel that since you've smoked, you've done it to yourself."
Cigarette smoking is the principal
cause of COPD, but poor workplace conditions and outdoor
air pollution also contribute significantly to its development
and exacerbation. COPD, which is generally caused by
blockage of the airways in the lungs and results in
progressive lung degeneration, tends to leave sufferers
with a chronic cough, excessive mucous and shortness
of breath. All this can lead to respiratory failure
and death.
BELOW
THE RADAR
COPD's bad reputation as an untreatable, incurable disease
doesn't help matters. "Until recently, there's been
a nihilistic approach to the disease," says Dr Anthony
D'Urzo of the Primary Care Lung Clinic in Toronto. "'Unless
you quit smoking there's nothing you can do' was the
attitude."
Under-diagnosis is another issue.
"In Canada, it's estimated that half of the patients
with this disease aren't diagnosed," says Dr D'Urzo.
"It's not unusual for a patient to come in to see a
lung doctor for the first time with a lung function
that's 25% of normal."
COPD isn't only evading doctors'
notice. "Patients can have a significant drop in lung
function without knowing it," says Dr Irvin Meyers of
the University of Alberta. "They limit their activity
a bit to compensate unconsciously. By the time they
see their doctor about it, the disease can be quite
advanced."
This is a big hurdle to overcome
as an early diagnosis by the family physician is key
to reversing COPD's momentum. But there are some things
doctors can do. "On all patients over 40 who've been
smoking a pack a day for 20 years, schedule a spirometry
test once a year to go with their annual physical exam,"
advises Dr D'Urzo. His colleague at the University of
Toronto, Dr Kenneth Chapman, agrees: "We shouldn't wait
for the barrel chest, the flattened hemidiaphragms and
breathlessness at rest to tell us a pulmonary disease
is present," he says.
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