Almost as prevalent as diabetes in France, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a potentially serious and underdiagnosed respiratory disease, caused by smoking and air pollution, affects women more quickly and severely than men, alert pulmonologists on the occasion of World COPD Day on November 15.
A PATHOLOGY THAT MADE 3,2 MILLION DEATHS IN 2015!
Although little known to the general public, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the fourth leading cause of death in the world in 2015, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), behind heart disease (nine million), accidents cerebrovascular (six million) and lower respiratory infections (just over 3,2 million).
Mainly due to smoking, including passive smoking, and to air pollution (outdoor and indoor), this inflammatory pulmonary pathology that clogs the bronchi killed around 3,2 million people in 2015, an increase of 12% since 1990 according to a study carried out in 188 countries by the Institute for Measurement and Evaluation of Health at the University of Washington (United States).
On the occasion of World COPD Day on November 15, the French pulmonologists of the Fondation du souffle are calling out to the general public by launching an awareness campaign focused on the progression of the disease in women, who are more vulnerable and more severely affected. smoking the same as men, from 35 years old.
Twenty years ago, the proportion of women affected was around 20%; it is now 20% in France, which represents one million women. Smoking between five and ten cigarettes a day is already a risk factor for COPD in women, as well as exposure to certain household products, according to recent studies.
Affected individuals have on average five other disorders or associated comorbidities, which can affect different organs and functions: 
metabolic, muscular, cardiac, gastrointestinal and psychic (anxiety, depression). In women, we find symptoms of anxiety, depression and shortness of breath more marked than in men, note the pulmonologists, who will be mobilized throughout France until the end of November.
The signs that should alert are a chronic cough, sputum, shortness of breath on exertion. They appear gradually, insidiously, and worsen over time, especially at rest.
Treatment consists of stopping smoking, taking drugs (mainly corticosteroids to treat inflammation), regular exercise, oxygen supply for the most severe cases, and stopping exposure substances that promote disease (wood cooking smoke, charcoal, etc.).
Source : Ladepeche.fr
