A new insight into life with COPD
You would be familiar with walking up a flight of stairs and being puffed out, but imagine if that feeling was with you every day, even for something as simple as walking to the front door.
That is what life is like for people living with Cardio Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD. COPD is an umbrella term that includes conditions like emphysema, chronic bronchitis and chronic asthma.
It’s the 5th most common cause of death in Australia, and is set to be the 3rd biggest killer worldwide in 2030. Two of the main causes of COPD are tobacco smoking and air pollution.
Rebecca Disler is a researcher in respiratory disease and a Senior Lecturer in Nursing in the Faculty of Health at the University of Technology Sydney. Rebecca and her colleagues have been looking at what life is like for people with COPD, including the psychological impacts. She spoke to Kenji Sato about the research.
Image: Yale Rosen on Flickr.
