COPD: Disease Overview, Symptoms, Impact, Anatomy and Physiology

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). It begins by defining COPD and outlining its symptoms, including wheezing, breathing difficulties, and cough. The report highlights that COPD is often caused by long-term exposure to irritants such as cigarette smoke, chemical fumes, and dusts. The report also provides interesting facts about the disease, such as the global prevalence and the financial burden it places on healthcare systems. It then explains the normal anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system, including the roles of lung compliance, airway resistance, and ventilation. Furthermore, the report details how COPD impacts normal anatomy and physiology, leading to changes like loss of elasticity in the bronchioles, airway damage, and obstruction. The report also defines key terms like inflammation, wheezing, airway resistance, airway obstruction, and emphysema to enhance understanding. The report's overall objective is to provide a clear understanding of COPD, its causes, its effects on the body, and the mechanisms involved.

FACT SHEET
Overview of the disease and symptoms:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a progressive lung disorder
associated with airflow obstructions and manifestation of symptoms like
wheezing, sputum production, breathing difficulty and cough. COPD is
caused by long-term exposure to irritants or particulate matters such as
cigarette smoke, chemical fumes and dusts (Spero et al., 2017)
Interesting facts about the disease:
According to the Global Burden of Disease study, 251 million cases of
COPD hve been recorded globally in 2016.
All diagnosed cases of COPD does not occur because of smoking and 20%
of those diagnosed with COPD has never smoked.
COPD costs about 50 million dollars per year to United States health care
cost (World Health Organization, 2019).
Normal anatomy and physiology to the cellular level
The normal pulmonary anatomy and pathophysiology is
characterised by gas exchange from environmental air into the
circulatory system.
The inhaled air is diffused into the blood for systemic circulation
and ATP is produced as energy at the cellular level
The functions like lung compliance, airway resistance and rate of
ventilation plays a role in the mechanism of breathing and ventilating
the alveoli
The whole process is facilitated by nose, trachea, bronchi and lungs
(Gelb, Christenson & Nadel, 2016).
Impact of the disease on normal anatomy and physiology:
However, COPD leads to the following anatomical changes in the
lungs:
Loss of elasticity of the bronchioles resulting in air trapped inside
the lungs
Due to continued exposure to airway pollutants, COPD leads to
airway damage and airway obstruction
The process starts with the inflammation of the bronchial tubes
Inflammation induces series of physiological changes leading to
narrowing of the airways and trapping of air in the lungs
This increases airway resistance and mucous production
Emphysema is also another cause of airway obstruction (Gelb,
Normal anatomy and physiology:
COPD is disease condition that affects various structural and
functional domains in the lungs:
During normal functioning of the respiratory systems, the inhaled air
passes through the windpipes into the lungs through the bronchi.
The bronchioles in the lungs are further divided into bronchioles
which ends in clusters of alveoli or air sacs, which has many tiny
blood capillaries.
The inhaled oxygen then enters the blood stream after passing
through the blood vessels.
Carbon dioxide as a waste product is also released at the same time
which is exhaled (Martini, Nath& Bartholomew, 2015).

DEFINITIONS
• Inflammation: Inflammation is a process that occurs in reaction to
infection leading to redness, swelling, irritation and injury in an
individual.
• Wheezing: Wheezing is a condition associated with whistling or rattling
sound made in the heart during breathing.
• Airway resistance: It is the process of resistance to airflow in the
respiratory tract caused during the process of inhalation and expiration of
air.
• Airway obstruction: It is a condition leading to blockage of the airways
and resulting in breathing problem due to poor entry of air into the lungs.
• Emphysema: It is one of the types of COPS which results in damage to
the alveoli of the lungs and symptoms of chronic cough and breathing
problems.