Pamela Kirkpatrick: COPD sufferers need support to help them stay in work for longer

Pamela Kirkpatrick is a Senior Lecturer and researcher in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.

Long-Term Conditions (LTC) are persisting health conditions that can't currently be cured but can be well controlled by medication and therapeutic interventions. Examples of LTC's include diabetes, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The diagnosis of the breathing condition COPD includes conditions such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and chronic asthmatic bronchitis and is expected to become the world's third leading cause of death by 2030 after heart disease and stroke.

COPD is a chronic airflow obstruction that is progressive and debilitating. Its emergence is slow and insidious and often diagnosed in mid-life. Many people diagnosed with COPD attribute some of the symptoms including breathlessness, coughing, wheezing, increased mucus production and fatigue to the natural ageing process. Although lung volume declines gradually from the age of around 70 the symptoms experienced with COPD is not a normal part of ageing and should be investigated at the earliest opportunity by a doctor.

Long-term and cumulative exposure to irritants causes inflammation in the delicate and sensitive lining of the lungs and subsequently results in the narrowing of small airways and then a breakdown of the lung tissue. COPD was known as the “old man’s smoking disease” but it affects more and more women and incidence is increasing in many countries due to the rise in smoking and air pollution. In some cases though it is caused by genetic factors and not related to smoking or pollutants.