COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a group of lung diseases, including bronchitis and emphysema. This condition causes temporary or permanent damages in your lungs, thus interfering with outward airflows. The main cause of COPD is smoking. It often takes a long time to develop this disease. Some common diagnosis techniques include lung function tests, blood tests, and imaging tests. Current treatment options would help alleviate the symptoms, but cannot cure them. In this article, we’ll show you some basic facts about COPD and how to treat it.
1Four Stages of COPD
In general, COPD typically lasts in 4 different stages. These include:
– Stage I: mild
– Stage II: moderate
– Stage III: severe
– Stage IV: extremely severe
These stages are graded based on the results of spirometry testing, which determines the amount of air that you can breathe out if your lungs during the first 1 second of forced expiration. The lower the amount is, the higher the level of severity can be. In later stages, you are more vulnerable to some further complications, such as anxiety, depression, lung cancer, high blood pressure, heart issues, and respiratory infections. [1]
