COPD Unaware
A guest post by Duke Reeves
Despite the advances in medicine and technology, COPD rates and the financial burden of COPD continue to rise. While part of the rising rates can be attributed to a growing population, the bottom line is that the majority of COPD cases are preventable through awareness and education.
The most common symptoms and signs of COPD are shortness of breath, chest tightness, coughing up mucus, and a chronic cough. Looking at these symptoms, it’s easy to see how we can brush them off and assume they are from a common cold or old age. However, by brushing these symptoms off we are setting ourselves up for a potentially rude awakening.
COPD is a progressive disease which means the longer it goes untreated the more damage it’s going to cause. The best way to ensure you live a full life with COPD is by catching the disease as early as possible.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) predicted COPD would become the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States by 2020. However, 12 years earlier than predicted, in 2008, COPD became the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States. That’s not a typo, 12 years earlier than predicted COPD became the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States. How can we reverse the trend?
Through education, we can raise COPD awareness to better treat and manage the disease nationwide.
This infographic from 1st Class Medical will really put the state of COPD awareness in the United States into perspective:
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