Lung Health Lung Health Basics

Smoking and COPD: Some Common Questions

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, accounts for over 100,000 deaths per year in the United States alone, making it the fourth leading cause of death. COPD is actually a group of diseases that include chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and asthmatic bronchitis. Each of these diseases shares a common characteristic, which is obstruction to airflow out of the lungs, causing shortness of breath.

In over 90 percent of cases, COPD is the result of smoking. The death rate has increased most significantly in women, which reflects the increased number of women who smoke. There are, however, less common causes of COPD, such as cystic fibrosis, bronchiectesis, and genetic forms of emphysema. Below are answers to some of the most common questions that people ask their doctors about COPD.

What is the relationship between COPD and smoking?
There is a direct causal relationship between COPD and smoking. Even the tobacco manufacturers now freely acknowledge this relationship. Other risk factors, such as genetic causes, air pollution, and childhood infections, pale in comparison to the risk of smoking. Nevertheless, there is a marked variability in the degree of damage smoking will do in an individual person. Only about 15 percent of chronic smokers will go on to develop clinically significant COPD. Why some smokers seem to be protected against developing COPD is under investigation.

My doctor told me I have COPD. Is it too late to quit smoking?
NO!! Once diagnosed with COPD, it is vitally important to quit smoking. COPD can be a progressive, debilitating disease. It can start simply as a difficulty with chores such as climbing steps, and progress to the point where supplemental oxygen is necessary to breathe at rest.

The rate of this progression will be rapid if you continue to smoke. If you quit smoking, the rate of COPD progression can be markedly slowed. Some studies even suggest a slight improvement in lung function initially after stopping smoking. More importantly, though, the decline in lung function over time can be reduced to a nearly normal rate after smoking cessation.

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