World COPD Day is an annual event organised by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) to create awareness about the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) around the world. World COPD Day 2010 is going to take place on Wednesday (November 17) with a theme "2010 - The Year of the Lung: Measure your lung health - Ask your doctor about a simple breathing test called spirometry."

COPD is a substantially under diagnosed disorder, whose diagnosis is delayed until the condition reaches in advanced state. Spirometery is the most frequently used pulmonary function test and enables health professionals to make an objective measurement of airflow obstruction and assess the degree to, which it is reversible, said Dr SK Agarwal, senior professor of department of chest disease, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University. According to him, the COPD is projected to be the third leading cause of death by 2020.

"The Indian Chest Society (ICS) is seriously concerned about the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of COPD by means of spreading awareness and education about the disease," said Dr JK Samaria, honorary secretary of ICS and senior consultant at the department of chest, IMS-BHU. The society had been continuously performing training and research activities to minimise the impact of the disease, he added. According to him, the COPD is a disease appearing similar to Asthma but much more lethal and different from it. The COPD is characterised by prolonged cough with excess sputum production and breathlessness. Initially the breathlessness is observed after light work out but gradually it may occur even while sitting idle as well. The breathlessness caused due to Asthma can be completely cured after proper medication, but unfortunately same is not the case with COPD.

The chest experts said that the COPD was a major cause of chronic morbidity and mortality throughout the world. It is the fourth leading cause of death in the world, and further increase in its prevalence and mortality can be predicted in coming decades. The GOLD defines COPD as a preventable and curable disease with some significant extra pulmonary effect that may contribute to the severity in individual patients, said Agarwal.

Citing a report from WHO Samaria said that more than 90 percent of COPD mortality involved poor countries with people having lower per capita income. In India the COPD among the rural families is a major cause of concern. Among these females cooking on cow dung and wooden fire is one of the major causes of COPD. The COPD spreads rapidly among people living in rural and semi-urban localities due to use of kerosene stoves for cooking, lack of proper ventilation and usage of mosquito coil. Atmospheric air pollution is yet another major cause of COPD and ever increasing quantum of automobiles and pollution due to their exhaust is making the matter worst.

According to the chest experts, in India clear data is not available but it is suspected that COPD may be one of the major cause of mortality here as well. A survey performed in 2006 at various centres of the country revealed the fact that there were over 40 million COPD patients in India, said Samaria adding that the prevalence of COPD in non-smoking female patients was quite significant. The ratio of male to female COPD patients is as high as 1.5:1 in India.