What factors have a negative impact on life expectancy in COPD?
Smoking is a common cause of COPD. If the patient does not give up cigarettes after the diagnosis is made, the progression of the disease is accelerated. Life expectancy is negatively affected by this, and studies have shown a shortening of life compared to patients who do not smoke.
Exacerbation is a worsening of COPD that goes beyond the normal fluctuation between days and lasts longer than one day. Symptoms are increasing difficulty in breathing and coughing with increased sputum (possibly greenish-yellowish discoloration). The cause is often an infection of the bronchi and/or lungs.
If these exacerbations occur frequently, the course of COPD is negatively affected and life expectancy is shortened. An advanced age is also associated with a reduced life expectancy in COPD due to the higher probability of concomitant diseases and a reduced ability of the body to compensate for disease and functional limitations. COPD leads to deterioration of the lungs and respiratory function as the duration of the disease increases.
As a result of poorer respiration, the lungs are unable to breathe out sufficient amounts of carbon dioxide, which leads to an increase in the level of carbon dioxide in the blood, known as hypercapnia. This can lead to a feeling of breathlessness. However, as hypercapnia develops insidiously in COPD, the body gets used to the high levels of carbon dioxide in the blood.
A strong increase in this level has a toxic effect and also leads to hyperacidity of the blood, which in turn has far-reaching consequences on the metabolism. Hypercapnia therefore always carries the risk of acute deterioration and has a negative effect on life expectancy. If a patient is treated with oral steroids (“cortisone“) due to another condition before he or she is diagnosed with COPD, life expectancy decreases. This is because the use of cortisone preparations is an integral part of therapy for COPD from stage 3 onwards. A pre-existing therapy therefore worsens the treatment options and thus the course of the disease.Older COPD patients with severe concomitant diseases such as heart failure, heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure have a lower life expectancy than (younger) patients without other severe concomitant diseases.
