Hca 240

Final Project Public Awareness and Human Disease COPD

Cindy Johnson

HCA 240

3/27/2011

Nicole Keels

Final Project Public Awareness and Human Disease COPD

COPD is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. In this paper we will be discussing the definition of COPD and the population who are most affected, the major causes of COPD, and which body systems are affected, how those systems are affected, risk factors that are not controlled, and how to moderate risk factors that can be controlled. We will also be describing the disease treatments of the past and describing current medical tests, procedure, equipment involved, therapies and medications. The future research-based treatment options and evaluated on their effectiveness. We will be discussing current local public awareness programs for COPD, what the programs do well, and how the programs could be improved.

“COPD is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. It is largely preventable and is very expensive to treat. The World Bank estimates that COPD is responsible for 29 million disabilities and 1 million years of life per year around the world. These figures place COPD as the fifth most significant global health problem, and COPD is expected to become the third leading cause of death in the first quarter of the next century. Furthermore COPD is currently the 12th leading cause of disability worldwide and is expected to be the fifth leading cause of disability by 2020. However¸ even these figures may not reflect the true scope of the disease, as there is a relative lack of data available to determine the prevalence and burden of COPD across all countries” (Murray CJL Lopez Ad eds) In 2005 COPD caused an estimated 126,005 US deaths in people older than 25 year old. This was an 8% increase from the 116,494 in the year 2000. For women the number of deaths related to COPD in 2005 was 65,193, while for men it was 60, 812. ()

What is the actual definition of COPD? The Mayo clinic...