World COPD Day | A chronic disease affecting 100 million people, you can't ignore it...
Recently, a "Who Has the Strongest Lungs" Douyin challenge has taken the internet by storm this winter. Participants compete in a lung capacity contest by seeing who can hold their breath the longest. Netizens are actively participating, creating a viral "fancy breath-holding" challenge that garnered over 100 million views on its first day.
This "breath-holding" challenge, while seemingly a lung capacity battle, carries a much deeper meaning. The "Who Has the Strongest Lungs" Douyin challenge, also known as the "COPD One-Breath Challenge," is a public service announcement campaign launched by Health Yuan's "Respiratory Experts Speak" on Douyin. The campaign uses interactive online methods to raise awareness of COPD, calling for care and concern for COPD patients, and using the "power of a single breath" to inform more people about this disease and the importance of prevention.
So what is COPD? And why did Health Yuan go to such great lengths to organize this challenge?
Understanding the "Silent Killer" - COPD
COPD, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, is a partially irreversible lung ventilation disorder. Clinical symptoms include frequent coughing, shortness of breath, phlegm production, chest tightness, and other systemic adverse reactions such as malnutrition, osteoporosis, muscle atrophy, and even psychological disorders like depression and anxiety. 
Many people may not have heard of COPD, but the damage it causes is shocking. Currently, 600 million people worldwide suffer from COPD, with approximately 2.75 million deaths annually – an average of 2.5 deaths per minute. In China alone, nearly 100 million people suffer from COPD, meaning 1 in every 14 people has the disease. As the third leading cause of death globally, after stroke and heart disease, COPD's high mortality and prevalence rate are alarming.
However, this serious disease is surprisingly little known. Surveys show that less than 10% of respondents are aware of COPD, less than 10% have undergone pulmonary function tests, and less than 3% know they have the disease. Furthermore, 60% of COPD patients show no clinical symptoms.
Health Yuan has been committed to raising public awareness of lung health. They hope to increase public awareness of COPD through the "COPD One-Breath Challenge." Before this event, they established the respiratory chronic disease management platform "Respiratory Experts Speak," collaborating with respiratory internal medicine experts from top-tier hospitals in China to conduct in-depth research on respiratory diseases and provide valuable, authoritative, and convenient health education and treatment management services to patients.
COPD is caused by a variety of factors, including environmental pollution, smoking, and individual susceptibility.
Environmental pollution includes both indoor and outdoor pollution. Indoor pollution mainly stems from toxic gases released from building materials during decoration and cooking fumes, causing impaired lung ventilation and gas exchange, leading to COPD. Outdoor pollution is related to the natural environment. Industrialization has brought economic development, but the resulting car exhaust, irritating fumes, and dust cause chronic irritation to the respiratory tract, inducing COPD. However, the city respiratory health map (different colors represent different air quality levels) jointly created by Health Yuan's "Respiratory Experts Speak" and Ink Weather shows that although there are differences in air quality across regions, it has significantly improved compared to the past.
Smoking has been confirmed as the leading cause of COPD, including both active and passive smoking. According to the "China Tobacco Harm Health Report," smokers are 10.92 times more likely to develop COPD than non-smokers. China has 350 million smokers. Whether it's traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or cigars, the toxic substances in tobacco (such as smoke and particles) cause persistent lung inflammation, gradually leading to bronchial obstruction, reducing lung resistance, and causing infections.
The greater the smoking amount and the longer the smoking duration, the greater the damage to the lungs, and the higher the risk of developing COPD. This is why the prevalence rate among middle-aged and elderly people over 40 is as high as 13.7%.
Individual Susceptibility
These patients mainly lack α1-antitrypsin, leading to reduced alveolar elasticity and subsequent lesions.
How to Prevent and Treat COPD
First, COPD is a partially irreversible disease and is currently incurable with existing clinical technology. Second, it is a highly insidious disease. As Academician Zhong Nanshan said, 95% of the nearly 100 million sufferers are in the early stages of the disease, with no or minimal symptoms. Even when they struggle to breathe while catching a bus or climbing stairs, they may mistake it for age-related issues or confuse it with chronic bronchitis or asthma, missing the optimal treatment time.
Furthermore, while many believe COPD mainly affects the elderly, the affected population is increasingly younger. A new Australian study shows that adults who were not exposed to smoking environments as children have about three times the risk of developing COPD compared to their peers who were exposed to secondhand smoke for a long time. According to Academician Wang Chen's "Latest Results of a Large-Scale Epidemiological Survey of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in China," the prevalence rate among people over 20 in China is 8.6%, which is worth considering. Prevention and treatment of COPD need to target different groups:
For those who haven't developed the disease, the "Three Early" principle should be followed.
Academician Zhong Nanshan suggests that those without the disease should undergo annual pulmonary function tests for early detection, diagnosis, and treatment.
For those with the disease, continuous treatment is necessary.
Choose nutritious foods, ensuring sufficient vitamins, calories, and trace elements. Maintain regular meals with a balanced diet of meat and vegetables. In addition, maintain exercise, such as lip-pursing exercises, diaphragmatic breathing, and running, to improve lung capacity.
Although most COPD patients are in a stable phase, chronic and persistent airway inflammation exists, causing varying degrees of cough and shortness of breath. If bacteria and viruses invade the body, the condition may worsen. Therefore, even in the stable phase, patients should continue medication to alleviate symptoms or use inhaled agents to control inflammation.
Let's hear what Academician Zhong Nanshan has to say about COPD.
Video source: Nanshan Respiration
Finally, if you are unable to assess your own and your family's lung condition, you can also Click on the mini-program below to enter the COPD self-test Q&A section Remember, only early screening, early diagnosis, and early treatment can keep COPD away and protect your and your family's respiratory health.
# Long press the picture to test immediately #
Article source: Health Circle
