COPD: Risk Factors, Australian Aboriginal Population & Smoking

This research report examines Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a significant global health issue, particularly focusing on its risk factors within the Australian Aboriginal population. The study employs the PICO framework to investigate the relationship between smoking and COPD contraction, comparing smokers to non-smokers. The search strategy involved using keywords like 'Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease,' 'Australian Aboriginal population,' and 'smoking' across various databases, including journals and websites. The findings indicate that smoking is a primary cause of COPD, with other factors including industrial exposure and genetic deficiencies also playing a role. The report details the stages and symptoms of COPD and recommends smoking cessation, regular exercise, a balanced diet, and pulmonary rehabilitation as key interventions. The research underscores the importance of early identification and intervention to manage COPD effectively, highlighting the need for healthcare providers to address modifiable risk factors like smoking.

Running head: CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE RESEARCH 1
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Research
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations

CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE RESEARCH 2
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Research
Aim
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is serious disease impacting several people in
the world. The World Health Organization estimates that the disease impacts more than 60
million individuals around the world especially the ex-smokers. It is a progressive and non-
reversible respiratory disease and it is deemed to be one of the primary causes disability a
well as deaths around the globe claiming more than 4.5 million lives every year (Lange et al.,
2015). As such the research aims at examining the risk factors of COPD.
PICO & the Research Question
Define your PICO
Population Australian Aboriginal population
Intervention Relationship between smoking and COPD
Comparison/Control Non-smokers
Outcome Influence of contracting Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Disease.
Write your research question below in the PICO format
In Australian Aboriginal population (P), how does being a smoker compare or relate (I) to
being non-smoker © influence contracting Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (0).
Search Strategy
a) Keywords
The keywords used to search for evidence include, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease,
Australian Aboriginal population, and smoking. These words were important because they
contained the primary information for the research.
b) Databases

CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE RESEARCH 3
It is important to note that the research utilized different databases including journals, peer-
reviewed journals, websites, books, films, and conducting interviews and assessment in the
among the populace.
c) Limiters
Some of the limiters used to search for the evidence include children, health care providers,
and assessing the environment as a risk factor. The limiters helped in getting more
information in regards to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
Best Practice
Best Practice Level of Evidence and
Type of Study
Citation in CDU APA 6th
format
Avoid smoking Level I from meta-analysis
and randomized trial
(Zwar et al., 2016)
Eat dietary food and regular
exercise
Level V from qualitative and
descriptive reviews
(Vogelmeier et al., 2017)
Pulmonary rehabilitation Level IV from cohort studies (McCarthy et al., 2015)
Findings
The findings of the research showed that the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
is mainly caused by smoking in comparison to other factors such as environment and physical
inactivity (McCarthy et al., 2015). The findings show that it takes numerous years of smokers
to develop the COPD and notes that patients contracting the disease are older people. Other
factors revealed in an interview with health care professionals include industrial exposure, for
example, mining, immune deficiency syndromes, and alpha-1 deficiency. In the same token,
the study found that the common symptoms of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE RESEARCH 4
include purses-lip breathing, productive cough, wheezing, and dyspnea. Other advanced cases
which might be witnessed include peripheral oedema, asterixis, and muscle wasting.
The research also established four main stages of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Disease. Stage I also known as mild involve the FEV1 becoming greater than 80 percent of
normal while stage II also known as moderate involve the FEV1 ranging between 50 percent
to 79 percent of normal. On the other hand, stage III also known as severe involve the FEV1
ranging between 30 percent to 49 percent of normal whereas stage IV also known as severe
encompass the FEV1 becoming less than 30% and this can result in respiratory failure. The
findings indicated that people who smoke have got high chances of contracting the Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The study, therefore, recommended people to cease
smoking, regularly exercise, eat balance diets, and seek pulmonary rehabilitation to shun
contracting the chronic disease (Vogelmeier, et al., 2017). Most importantly, individuals should
cease smoking.

CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE RESEARCH 5
References
Lange, P., Celli, B., Agustí, A., Boje Jensen, G., Divo, M., Faner, R., ... & Meek, P. (2015). Lung-
function trajectories leading to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. New England Journal
of Medicine, 373(2), 111-122.
McCarthy, B., Casey, D., Devane, D., Murphy, K., Murphy, E., & Lacasse, Y. (2015). Pulmonary
rehabilitation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Cochrane Library.
Vogelmeier, C. F., Criner, G. J., Martinez, F. J., Anzueto, A., Barnes, P. J., Bourbeau, J., ... & Frith,
P. (2017). Global strategy for the diagnosis, management and prevention of chronic
obstructive lung disease 2017 report. Respirology, 22(3), 575-601.
Zwar, N. A., Bunker, J. M., Reddel, H. K., Dennis, S. M., Middleton, S., Van Schayck, O. C., ... &
Xuan, W. (2016). Early intervention for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by practice
nurse and GP teams: a cluster randomized trial. Family practice, 33(6), 663-670.