Once properly diagnosed through spirometry, COPD can be effectively managed. The experts were focusing on the way the ATS can assist in GOLD's international efforts to help millions of people worldwide who suffer from this potentially crippling disease. COPD is a term used to describe chronic bronchitis and emphysema. A slowly progressive lung disease characterized by a gradual loss of lung function, the illness is caused primarily by smoking in the United States and throughout most of the developed world. Victims have an abnormal inflammatory response in the lung in response to noxious particles or gasses from cigarettes and smoke.
Symptoms can include cough, sputum, and phlegm even before lung function begins to decline.
COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. behind heart disease, cancer, and stroke. By 2020, it is predicted to rank as the third leading cause of death. Approximately 100,000 men and women die from the disease annually in the U.S., a death rate representing a 22 percent increase over the past decade. The highest rate of increase in deaths has been seen in white women. In order to receive the increasing prevalence, a unified international effort is required.