Causes of COPD
The term COPD is mainly used to describe chronic inflammation of the airways (chronic bronchitis) and the restructuring of the lung architecture (pulmonary emphysema). Many factors contribute to its development. The most frequent cause of chronic inflammation and narrowing of the airways is a long-lasting inflammation and increased production of mucus in the airways (chronic bronchitis).
This manifests itself as a long-lasting cough with shortness of breath, which, however, is not dry but is associated with sputum (i.e. mucus). Factors that favour COPD can be: 1. smoking With 90%, smoking is the first cause of COPD. It does not matter what kind of tobacco you smoke or whether you smoke passively.
Even though smoking is often the cause of COPD, only 20% of smokers develop COPD during their lifetime, which suggests that other factors must also play a role. Furthermore, the constant irritation caused by the toxic ingredients of smoke leads to increased production of mucus. Even in young smokers, the constriction caused by the inflammation and the increased mucus production is clearly measurable, but often it is still reversible.
However, permanent damage leads to irreversible damage to the airways, which can manifest itself as a smoker’s cough, and to the manifestation of COPD. 2. dirty breathing air In principle, any type of air pollution can cause irritation. Thus, even mountain farmers or other occupational groups with years of exposure to fine dust often develop COPD.
Inhaling toxic vapours also irritates the lungs and can lead to COPD. 3 Lung development Factors that inhibit lung development in childhood and can be linked to later COPD are also worth mentioning. These include a 4th gene defect Rarely a gene defect can also be detected.
This defect in the genetic code leads to a lack or complete absence of enzymes that accelerate various processes in the lungs. If these enzymes are absent, work incorrectly or are present in too low a concentration in the blood, these processes can no longer take place properly in the lungs and the functioning lung tissue is destroyed. The best known example is alpha1-antitrypsin. In every patient who is diagnosed with COPD before the age of 50, the presence or activity of these enzymes should be checked by a blood test. – low birth weight and
- Frequent respiratory infections in childhood
Diagnosis of COPD
The diagnosis is mainly based on lung function tests. These also allow a distinction to be made between bronchial asthma, which is often associated with similar symptoms. These tests can be used to measure different volumes in the lungs.
1 Spirometry In COPD, so-called spirometry plays an important role. Here, one breathes in and out through a mouthpiece in which a measuring sensor is attached. A spirometer measures the amount of air that is breathed in and out.
2nd measurement of the one-second capacity In addition, the so-called Tiffeneau test measures the maximum amount of air that can be exhaled within one second. This value is called the forced expiratory capacity (FEV1). This value indicates the percentage of the total inhaled volume that can be exhaled within this first second with maximum effort.
This value is also used to determine the severity of the illness. The lower this value, the more severe the illness or breathing restrictions. The disease is classified according to the GOLD scheme.
In this scheme, the stages of the disease include the following stages: 3. body plethysmography Another test determines the amount of air remaining in the lungs after exhalation. As this volume remains in the lungs during simple breathing, it cannot be measured by spirometry, as this method only measures moving air flows. Since COPD, as described above, leads to over-inflation of the lungs, other methods are required here. To measure this residual volume (= residual volume), the measurement is carried out in a closed chamber, the so-called bodyplethysmograph. – I Mild (FEV1 >80%)
- II Moderate (FEV1 50-80%)
- III Heavy (FEV1 < 50%)
- IV Very heavy (FEV1<30%)
