Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease appears more frequently in some families, so there may be an inherited tendency. Working in an environment polluted by chemical fumes or nonhazardous dust may increase the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, smoking increases the risk much more than a person's occupation. About 10 to 15 percent of smokers develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Pipe and cigar smokers develop it more often than nonsmokers but not as often as cigarette smokers.
Cigarette smokers have higher death rates from chronic bronchitis and emphysema than nonsmokers.
With age, cigarette smokers lose lung function much more rapidly than nonsmokers. The more cigarettes a person smokes, the greater the loss of function. If such inflammation is long-standing, permanent damage may result. The body produces a protein, called alpha 1 -antitrypsin, whose main role is to prevent neutrophil elastase from damaging the alveoli. 1 -antitrypsin in the body, so emphysema develops by early middle age, especially in smokers.