“In a new analysis of medical records, cannabis smokers had higher rates of a certain type of emphysema than tobacco smokers.” It's another attention-grabbing headline that fails to tell the whole story. Let’s skip the public relations version and consider the study's findings.
COPD
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, is a limitation of how much air a person can inhale and exhale. Smoking has long been considered a major risk factor, but some smokers avoid the problem while some non-smokers develop COPD. A new study identifies a risk factor we haven't really considered that seems to play as large a role as smoking.
Although you might think that living in an urban setting is worse for your lungs, recent data from the CDC point out that there's more Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in rural areas. Why? Possible reasons include a higher smoking rate as well as more environmental exposures.
A One Direction concert-goer, whose difficulty breathing after “intense screaming” yielded a published case report in the Journal of Emergency Medicine, is not alone. Learn why this happens and who's at greatest risk.
By now, anyone even slightly versed in health issues understands that cigarette smoking can irretrievably damage the lungs — whether via lung cancer or other disease processes. Even those who've never smoked may develop these conditions. A recent study indicates that never-smoking women are more likely to develop COPD than never-smoking men.
The famous singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, as per his manager Robert B. Kory’s statement, “died during his sleep following a fall in the middle of the night on November 7th." Ironically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just released their estimates of the top 5 causes of preventable deaths.
Continuing declines in overall U.S. death rates between 1969 and 2013 represent major public health gains, including in most specific illnesses. COPD death rate is higher than it was initially, but is also now declining along with smoking rates.
Leonard Nimoy, now 82 years old, revealed that he has been diagnosed with COPD, although he quit smoking 30 years ago. His symptoms are mild, thankfully, but they may progress further. The message: if you smoke, quit. If you don't, don't start!
As we reported last month, there is significant progress being made in the treatments of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a group of debilitating diseases that includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
There is now another drug nearing FDA approval, which will add to the choices of therapies for COPD sufferers, and it should help with patient compliance, since it is a once-a-day single drug. Previously, COPD patients had to deal with multiple drugs and a more complicated schedule.
Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the two most common conditions responsible for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).