What is the life expectancy in stage 4
In stage 4, the final stage, patients are very severely restricted by COPD, the body is always poorly supplied with oxygen due to the symptoms of the disease. Lung function is very significantly restricted and is below 30 percent of normal. In this late stage, the permanent strain on the other organs often leads to secondary diseases, e.g. cardiac insufficiency.
These further reduce life expectancy. If the one-second capacity is below 750ml, the average life expectancy is about 3 years. One third of patients die within one year after being diagnosed with stage 4 COPD. However, accurate prognoses about life expectancy are always difficult to make, as many individual factors play an important role.