Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects millions of American men and women. But a recent study suggests that women, especially younger ones, are particularly vulnerable to severe COPD symptoms.
The research was published on October 1, 2018, in International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease “She suggests that we need to look more closely at women who have shortness of breath and cough to see if they should have a diagnosis and treatment for COPD,” he says. Dawn DeMeo, MD, MPHlead author of the study and associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The researchers in the new study are part of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease studya multicenter research effort investigating genetic factors in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Millions, not just smokers, are living with COPD
COPD is an umbrella term for lung diseases that block airflow and make breathing difficult. Like asthma, COPD is caused by obstructive pulmonary disease, in which the flow through the airways and alveoli decreases with exhalation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)nearly 16 million Americans have reported being diagnosed with COPD, although the actual number of people affected may be much higher.
Smoking is the most common cause of COPD and accounts for about 8 in 10 COPD-related deaths. But many people with COPD have never smoked.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data show that although age-adjusted mortality rates for COPD declined among American men from 1999 to 2014, death rates did not change significantly among women. according to A study published in the journal scalpela 35-year-old woman is three times more likely to develop COPD than to develop breast cancer in her lifetime.
How was the study conducted?
The study included 4,484 current and former smokers with COPD aged 45 to 80 years – 2,522 were younger than 65, and 1962 were 65 or older. Women made up 43 to 45 percent of the participants in the groups. While a higher proportion of men in the younger group were identified as current smokers, there was no difference in smoking status between men and women in the older groups.
Researchers assessed the severity of COPD in participants using GOLD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) Grading system established by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the World Health Organization.
The GOLD system ranks COPD severity from A (early) to D (very severe) based on several factors, including a person’s FEV1 score (the amount of air that can be forcibly expelled from the lungs in one second), the frequency of exacerbations or flares increases, Hospitalization, the degree of dyspnea (dyspnea associated with physical activity).
They found that younger women with COPD were more likely to have severe breathlessness and restricted airflow, and were more likely to have an exacerbation of the disease than men. While the difference was not significant between older women and men in general, the study found that the older participants were more likely to have severe shortness of breath than the older men.
“The results suggest that women tolerate COPD symptoms more than men, and that younger women may be more likely to develop symptoms,” the study authors said.
The latest findings support previous research
This isn’t the first study to suggest that women may be more severely affected by COPD symptoms than men. Previous research published in 2004 And the in 2010 They came to similar conclusions. However, the authors of the new study believe that their findings “extend this previous work to show gender differences vary across the life course and continue.”
Researchers admit they don’t know why COPD may affect women worse than men. They suggest that it may involve “multiple interaction mechanisms,” including physiology, behavior, and genetics. The severity of shortness of breath may be associated with:
- Differences in lung volume and volume
- Evidence that estrogen may compound the effects of tobacco smoke
Dr. Demio hopes that greater awareness of gender differences in COPD patients will lead to early diagnosis and treatment in women. “This is an opportunity for women to advocate for better screening and testing,” she says.
“We’re used to treating every patient the same way,” says one of the study’s co-authors. Barry Meek, MD, director of the COPD program at National Jewish Health in Denver. “We’re not the same, and gender fits the concept.”
