Almost 75 percent of patients with COPD are undiagnosed

Likewise, Coordinator of the Pulmonary Service of the Quironsalud Infanta Luisa Hospital, Domingo Garcia Aguilar, Details indicate that the spectrum of symptoms of COPD is very wide and patients may be found to be completely asymptomatic. “Among our main symptoms: cough, expectoration, shortness of breath, wheezing… all these symptoms are very non-specific, since they appear in any smoking patient, Consequently, in many cases the pathology is diagnosed years after its onset or there is even a high percentage of undiagnosed patients,” says García Aguilar.

Given the lack of knowledge about this disease and lack of diagnosis, Jesus Peñas de Bustillo, jhead of the hospital’s pulmonology service Kironsalud of the Sacred Heartadvises against allowing the population to normalize the presence of respiratory symptoms, especially the presence of a cough or poor lung capacity, simply because they smoke or are in poor physical condition, and encourages patients to increase their trust in their doctor as someone. which cares about the health of your lungs and is not limited to reproaches for smoking, and also works to promote the use of spirometry in patients who smoke.

The use of inhaled bronchodilators is the basis of treatment for patients with COPD in different phases of the disease. So the doctor Peñas de Bustillo emphasizes that “pharmacological treatment represents only part of the treatment and should be complemented by non-pharmacological interventions that have been shown to reduce mortality associated with smoking cessation, pulmonary rehabilitation, long-term oxygen therapy, non-invasive ventilation andincluding surgical techniques that are important in a comprehensive approach to patients with COPD.”

“In carefully selected patients with advanced emphysema, bronchoscopic volume reduction techniques have been observed to improve exercise capacity, quality of life and lung function at 6-12 months follow-up and likely We will soon have a biological treatment for some patients,” adds Jesús Peñas de Bustillo.

“Smoking is the main risk factor for developing this disease, with environmental and occupational pollutants, biomass use or genetic factors trailing far behind. “Between 70 and 90% of people diagnosed with COPD have a history of smoking,” he notes. Garcia Aguilar, while indicating that new forms of smoking such as e-cigarettes, vaping and heated tobacco devices are being studied to understand their impact on chronic lung disease.

“Although these devices are often promoted as less harmful alternatives to regular smoking, they have potentially harmful effects on lung health. While it is true that some devices may carry less immediate risk than regular tobacco, people with COPD These new forms of smoking may worsen the disease and, in non-smokers, contribute to its development. The best recommendation remains to avoid all forms of nicotine consumption and inhalation products to protect lung health,” adds Domingo García Aguilar.

In this sense, experts agree that smoking patients with COPD have a higher risk of developing lung cancer than smokers without the disease, due to a possible connection between oxidative and antioxidant mechanisms that are differentially expressed in these patients with chronic diseases. respiratory diseases and are therefore involved in the development of lung cancer. However, these patients are not only more prone to developing lung cancer, “but also other diseases, including cardiovascular pathology (high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart rhythm disturbances, especially atrial fibrillation, heart failure or stroke), respiratory pathology (obstructive sleep apnea, asthma, bronchiectasis, pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, lung cancer), diabetes mellitus, obesity, malnutrition, renal failure, osteoporosis, mental illness (anxiety and depression), cognitive impairment, gastroesophageal reflux, anemia or neoplasms,” they note. both specialists.

Experts emphasize the reminder that “COPD is a chronic, progressive disease in which, in addition to sustained bronchodilator therapy and appropriate preventive vaccination, It is extremely important to do daily exercise along with quitting smoking.“,” they clarify.

COPD is a socio-medical problem of the first magnitude, due mainly to the social and economic costs that the disease entails, as well as its morbidity and mortality, as well as the high prevalence that, according to the latest epidemiological study of COPD, in Spain (EPI study), SCAN II) is 11.8% in people over 40 years of age (14.6% in men and 9.8% in women) and in Sanger is 8.1%.