COPD: It's Easily Preventable Trivia Quiz

Answer: False

COPD actually stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or, less commonly, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. COPD is a common lung disease affecting approximately 16,000,000 Americans and the number is growing daily. It causes 13,000,000 medical office visits and 634,000 hospitalizations every year. Long-term cigarette smoking causes nearly all cases.

It takes many years for COPD to develop to the point to which those affected seek medical help. Most begin to feel the symptoms at between 50 and 70 years of age.

Answer: Diaphragm

In a healthy lung, through the action of the diaphragm moving down, when you inhale air flows freely into the windpipe (trachea), through the airways (bronchial tubes), and to the air sacs (alveoli) located deep within the lung. When you exhale, the diaphragm moves up, the chest contracts, and the waste air is forced out.

Answer: All of these

Physicians use the term COPD to describe two different diseases - emphysema and chronic bronchitis - because many people with COPD have a combination of these two diseases. In addition, some people with COPD may also have asthma-like symptoms or reactive airway disease. People with COPD may have worsening attacks from time to time which are called acute exacerbations.

Answer: Cigarette smoking

Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, which may be detected by a blood test, is a genetic disorder that may cause COPD as will work related dusts and chemicals, indoor cooking fuels without proper ventilation, second-hand smoke and childhood respiratory infections but the leading cause, by far, is cigarette smoking.
COPD=Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Answer: False

Quitting smoking may prevent COPD but it won't cure it as there is no cure. Many steps may be taken to improve the quality of life but there is no way to repair the lung and airway damage already done. In fact, the quality of life may be improved and length of life may be extended if the proper action is taken.

Answer: False

The first signs that people usually notice are coughing or phlegm and then shortness of breath from climbing the stairs or walking uphill. Over time, people may cut back on certain activities without realizing it. Bathing and dressing may become a chore. Unchecked, COPD may lead to heart strain and heart enlargement.

While swelling of the legs and ankles is a symptom of COPD, it is brought about indirectly as the result of the heart damage. COPD and heart disease frequently go together and long-term smoking puts one at risk for both COPD and heart disease.

Answer: True

Your physician - preferably a pulmonologist - will order a complete medical work-up which will likely include a breathing test (also called a pulmonary function test or spirometry), a chest x-ray, an oxygen level measurement, blood tests, a mucus culture and exercise tests.

Answer: Quitting smoking

In fact, all of the choices are important, but giving up smoking will reduce the strain on your lungs. In addition, make sure you get your flu and pneumonia shots, control your breathing, use oxygen therapy (if ordered), and manage acute exacerbations. Once you have it, however, you may feel so sick and concerned that smoking is the last thing on your mind.

Answer: True

A controlled study was conducted in China which included more than 20,000 people, of whom more than 15,000 had never smoked. It was found that as little as two years exposure to passive smoke at home or at work increased the risk of contracting COPD. Not surprisingly, the longer the exposure the greater the risk. So, if you want to kill yourself (as my sister did in 2008), that's your business but you have no right to take those around you with you.

Answer: Yes

They certainly do. Simply put, they open airways by relaxing tight muscles around them. However, they are not without possible side effects. One particularly annoying and painful side effect is not uncommon. It is xerostomia (dry mouth). The dry mouth causes the inhaled powder to adhere to the mucus membranes in your mouth and, if not thoroughly rinsed out, a yeast infection (thrush) develops.

This can make it impossible to eat anything but the blandest foods.