A perpetual increase in air pollution (smoke), especially in major metropolitan areas, positioned chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as a fourth leading cause of deaths worldwide, including India. November, 16th, 2016 is "World COPD Day" and this article aims to intuit some of the aspects related to COPD. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), is a blanket term that refers to obstructive airways due to various lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
The main cause of COPD is long-term exposure to chemicals or substances that irritate or damage the lungs such as smoke, fumes and sometimes, air-borne pathogens or allergens. India is particularly threatened by this disease due to ever increasing smoke caused by fuel adulterations, agricultural burns, traffic congestion and smoking. For instance, the WHO survey of air pollution recently categorized the…
