On the occasion of its annual symposium organized yesterday at the Palais du Luxembourg, the COPD Association (Chronic Obstructive Pneumopathy Broncho) wanted to warn against the lack of place given to this disease in health policies. “While it is the cause of nearly 18,000 deaths and 100,000 hospitalizations each year in France, COPD remains an epidemic that is progressing in silence” underlines the association. A silence that the association puts on the account of the extremely slow evolution of the disease but also of its ignorance.
“According to a very recent survey, it appears that 10 years after the launch of the first World COPD Day, still 8 out of 10 French people have never heard of this disease. In addition, 86% of French people say they do not feel concerned. However, more than two out of three patients are not diagnosed” insists Dr Frédéric Le Guillou, president of the COPD Association.
COPD: a silent disease
COPD affects 3.5 million people in France but remains largely under-diagnosed. Smoking is the main responsible cause in 85% of cases.
“The person with COPD begins by coughing and spitting up in the morning but attributes it to excessive smoking or chronic unimportant coughing, when this may be a tangible sign of COPD that is beginning or is already installed” explains Dr Le Guillou. “Nor should we neglect dyspnea (shortness of breath), which is a major sign but underestimated by the patient, who adapts his way of life to this shortness of breath.
For his part, the attending physician only very rarely measures the breath of his smoking patients, which could however give him a first indication of diagnosis. People over 40 who have smoked for over 20 years and who have symptoms such as shortness of breath could be a target” adds the doctor who regrets that COPD is the great forgotten of campaigns against smoking.
Indicate the risk on cigarette packets
This is why the association is campaigning for the risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease to be clearly indicated on cigarette packets. “Prevention is the only effective way to take charge of the disease” notes for his part Professor Bruno Housset, president of the French Federation of Pneumology. “Prevention involves measuring the breath, which can lead to spirometry carried out by pulmonologists. But there are no incentives to encourage treating physicians to carry out more upstream” he laments.
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