Hi, help us enhance your experience
Hi, help us enhance your experience
Hi, help us enhance your experience
1909 Views
Dr Surya Kant, Professor and Head, Dept. of Respiratory Medicine, KGMU, UP, Lucknow. National Vice Chairman IMA-AMS 18 November 2021
“Healthy Lungs – Never More Important”
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and accounted for 3.23 million deaths in 2019. Most of these deaths were reported from low- and middle-income countries.
COPD patients are prone to exacerbations leading to rapid decline in lung function, increased hospitalizations, reduced quality of life and higher mortality. Smoking is well-documented as a risk factor for the disease as well as exacerbations; other risk factors include exposure to air pollution, dust, fumes, secondhand smoke, poor compliance, high treatment costs. To this list can also be added, therapeutic or clinical inertia, defined as “failure to escalate or initiate adequate therapy when treatment goals are not met”, resulting in inadequately or suboptimally managed episodes of acute exacerbations.
Recognizing the role of therapeutic inertia in acute exacerbations of COPD, a panel of five clinicians from the United Kingdom (UK) have developed four action points (as below) to reduce the risk of exacerbations.1
The study authors write, “These action points should be a fundamental part of clinical practice to determine if a change in management is necessary to reduce the risk of exacerbations. Policymakers should use these action points to develop systems and initiatives that reduce the risk of further exacerbations.”
COPD is a preventable and treatable disease, a fact accepted and incorporated by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) committee in their definition of COPD. However, the majority of COPD cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage, where the lung has already been damaged to quite an extent. Hence, it continues to be an important cause of death globally.
The authors have also called for a change of approach in managing COPD patients along the lines of management of heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension, where the focus has now shifted to prevention and self-management. Acting on risk factors, early diagnosis, right treatment, pulmonary rehabilitation and educating patients not only about the disease but also self-management should help to reduce the frequency of exacerbations.
“Healthy Lungs – Never More Important” is the theme of the World COPD Day this year and it is never more appropriate than now, when Covid-19 continues to rampage across the world and SARS-CoV-2 keeps threatening to come up with a new avatar.
Reference
{{Article_Title}}
{{Article_Author}}
{{Article_Title}}
{{Article_Author}}