The National Emphysema Foundation says carbon dioxide can build up in the blood and blood oxygen levels diminish. Eventually the heart may be affected and the disease can be fatal if the lungs and heart can no longer deliver oxygen to the body's organs and tissues. It affects an estimated 16 million Americans. It usually develops in older people, and is more common in men than women. ALA says chronic bronchitis affects people of all ages, but is higher in those over 45 years old.
Chronic bronchitis is also more common in women, than men.
In emphysema there is permanent destruction of the alveoli or tiny elastic air sacs of the lung. There is also narrowing of the smallest air passages of the lungs or bronchioles, which restricts airflow from the lungs. But in emphysema, this protein gets destroyed. ALA says an estimated 50,000-100,000 Americans living today were born with this deficiency. The majority of cases of emphysema are not genetic, however.