What does chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mean?
Chronic = it’s a long-term condition and does not go away
Obstructive = your airways are narrowed, so it’s harder to breathe out quickly and air gets trapped in your chest
Pulmonary = it affects your lungs
Disease = it’s a medical condition
What is COPD?
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung condition that happens when your lungs become inflamed and damaged and your airways narrow. COPD makes it harder for air to move in and out of your lungs (your airflow is obstructed), so you become breathless.
COPD is the broad term for a group of lung conditions that include long-term (chronic) bronchitis and emphysema. People with COPD often have a mixture of the two conditions.
COPD is a common condition. Around 1.7 million people in the UK have COPD. A lot of people do not realise they have COPD, with around 600,000 people living undiagnosed across the UK.
COPD is a progressive condition. This means that it gets more severe over time. Although there are treatments to help improve symptoms, there is no cure for COPD.
What's the difference between COPD and asthma?
If you have COPD, your airways are narrowed permanently. Inhaled medicines can help to open your airways up, but only to some extent.
If you have asthma, the narrowing of your airways comes and goes. It usually happens when you’re near an asthma trigger like dust, pollen or tobacco smoke or when you get a viral infection. Inhaled medication can open your airways fully and relieve your symptoms.
If your symptoms are much better on some days than others, or if you often wake up at night with symptoms, you might have asthma.
Sometimes, it is difficult to tell the difference between asthma and COPD because:
- they have similar symptoms
- people with asthma can get COPD later in life
- some people have both COPD and asthma.
What causes COPD?
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) happens when your lungs and airways are damaged and inflamed by something you breathe in. This damage is usually linked to breathing harmful substances, like cigarette smoke or dust, fumes or chemicals at work. You are also more likely to develop COPD if you have lung problems in early life.
What increases your risk of getting COPD?
There are several things that can increase your risk of getting COPD.
Smoking is the most common risk factor for COPD. Around 9 in 10 cases of COPD are linked to smoking cigarettes.
Second-hand smoke (passive smoking) as well as smoking a pipe, cigars and marijuana (weed) can all increase your risk of getting COPD.
Exposure to passive smoking in childhood can prevent your lungs from developing normally. This increases the risk of COPD in later life.
Find out why smoking is bad for your lungs.
Being exposed to certain substances at work can damage your lungs and increase your chance of developing COPD. For example, silica dust, welding fumes and cleaning products.
Around 2 in 10 cases of COPD are linked to dust, fumes and chemicals at work. If you smoke as well as being exposed to dust, fumes and chemicals at work, your risk of getting COPD increases.
The Health and Safety Executive has more information about what types of jobs and substances can cause COPD.
Being exposed to high levels of indoor air pollution from things like wood or coal burning can increase your risk of getting COPD.
Breathing in toxic air pollution particles outside can also cause COPD and trigger flare-ups (exacerbations).
COPD can run in families, so if your parents or relatives have COPD, you’re more at risk of getting COPD.
Alpha-1-antitrysin deficiency (AATD) is an inherited genetic condition, which means that you have low levels of a protective enzyme called alpha-1-antitrypsin in your blood. Having AATD makes the lungs much more sensitive to damage from smoking. People with AATD who smoke usually develop COPD at a younger age.
You’re more likely to get COPD if you also have asthma or had it as a child.
Your lungs grow and develop until you reach your early twenties. Anything that affects your lung growth increases your risk of getting COPD as an adult. This includes infections, diet, and being exposed to cigarette smoke.
What are the signs and symptoms of COPD?
Common COPD symptoms include:
- breathlessness. This often comes on gradually and gets worse over time. It means you might feel breathless while doing things you used to be able to do easily, like walking quickly or going uphill
- a cough that lasts a long time or goes away and comes back
- coughing up a lot of phlegm (sputum)
- frequent chest infections
- wheezing.
What should I do if I have symptoms?
Never ignore them. See your GP if you have any COPD symptoms, especially if you:
- are over 35
- smoke or have smoked
- had chest trouble when you were younger
- have worked in a job where you were exposed to dust, fumes or chemicals.
Getting diagnosed with COPD and starting treatment earlier can help to prevent lung problems getting worse.
We know that sometimes it might be hard to get a GP appointment. See our advice to help you get in contact with your GP.
Get support
Call our helpline for support with your condition. Get advice on your medicines, symptoms or travelling with a lung condition, or just call us to say hello.
