Smoking is injurious to health. We have seen many advertisements and read several times about the disadvantages of smoking. But smoking is a growing fad among people and youngsters love to show their freedom and rebellion by smoking cigarettes or pots.

There are many people that smoke both cigarettes and marijuana and they develop greater chances of the deadly and painful lung ailment COPD as compared to people who just smoke cigarettes and avoid

Conclusion of the study

The study clearly portrays that smokers engaging in smoking cigarettes and marijuana are at a higher risk- at least three times higher than non smokers to have developed COPD disorder that affects and damages the lungs. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – COPD chances are lower in people that just smoke cigarette.

This is one of the first studies that clearly depicts a relation between marijuana and tobacco as older people are at maximum risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease- COPD. It can be concluded that smoking pot may act as a catalyst that may enhance the chances of developing COPD. It also acts a deterrent that initiates unpleasant effects on the respiratory system in the human body as well according to study researcher Wan C. Tan, MD, of the University of British Columbia and St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada.

Risks

As of today around 12 million people in USA are diagnosed with COPD and the same number are unaware about the occurrence of the disease in their body as per the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. In USA COPD is referred as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. This dangerous disease causes a lot of problems in breathing.

This disease occurs because of smoking cigarette and you will be shocked to learn that it ranks as the fourth reason for deaths in USA. The connection between the lungs and tobacco is widely known very little known is about the repercussions of marijuana on the lungs. Even casual smoking of marijuana has adverse affects on the lungs.

Tan’s Study

Tan had conducted a study on the amalgamated effects of smoking cigarette and pot together. It involved 878 citizens of Vancouver. The subjects were considered tobacco smokers if they had imbibed more than 365 cigarettes in their life. If any of the subjects had ever smoked pot then they were recognized as pot smokers. The researchers had clearly laid out the definition for substantial marijuana smokers if the subjects had consumed at least fifty marijuana cigarettes.

The subjects in this study should have at least smoked for an average of 16 years and 84 marijuana cigarettes should have been consumed by the subjects so that clear conclusions can be arrived at.

COPD was medically affirmed by an indicative method known as spirometric testing. The frequency of of COPD in subjects that just smoked cigarettes was 2.7 times more as compared to non smokers. The degree of COPD was 2.9 times more that smoked both pots and cigarettes. The hazard of COPD is greater in people that smoke pot and not tobacco.

COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. It is a breathing disorder which obstructs the flow of air through the airways and the lungs. What is COPD is something that not many are aware of but recent estimates suggest that over twelve million people worldwide suffer from this disease and there are over twelve million who suffer from the disease but are still not aware of what is COPD. It is a chronic lung disease that makes it hard to breathe and there is no specific cure for COPD as a disease.

The awareness of what is COPD’s other names would help to understand the disease better and also help in its diagnosis. COPD is composed of two major diseases namely chronic bronchitis and emphysema which are also its other names. Bronchitis as well as emphysema cause breathing difficulties and the condition is progressive over time. When a person is affected by chronic bronchitis or emphysema, the bronchi and alveoli of the lungs lose their elastic quality and their wall get inflamed and also produce more mucus than usual which causes the blocking of the airways which in turn makes it hard to breathe.

Symptoms of COPD

Understanding what is COPD also requires as good understanding of what are the symptoms of COPD. Chronic coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath are the most common symptoms of COPD. The increased production of sputum, dyspnea (breathing difficulty), fever and chest infections are some of the other common symptoms of COPD and its associated conditions namely bronchitis and emphysema.

These symptoms are found mostly in the early stages of COPD and since it is a progressive disorder, the symptoms of COPD are more vivid as it worsens. Some of the common symptoms of COPD in its advanced stages are cyanosis which is the blush coloration of the lips and nails because of the lack of oxygen in the blood, morning headaches as the blood id unable to remove the carbon dioxide from the body and weight loss and in extreme cases, the symptoms of COPD are heart failure, bleeding from the lungs while coughing and also swelling of the feet and hands. A clear idea of the symptoms of COPD will provide a better idea of what is COPD and what are its effects.

Causes of COPD

As much as it is important to know what is COPD and what are the symptoms of COPD, it is also important to know what causes COPD. Since prevention is better than cure, it is better to understand the causes and protect ourselves rather than analyzing the symptoms of COPD and taking measures to mitigate its effect.

The biggest cause of COPD is smoking which accounts for more than 90% of the total number of patients suffering from COPD. Moreover, smokers are known to develop more intense symptoms of COPD which causes a lot of damage to lungs and the bronchi. The other common causes are the exposure to passive smoking and air pollution. When air pollutants such as silica and cadmium enter the lungs they clog the airways and cause breathing difficulties. This is common among coal miners, construction workers, metal workers and cotton workers. Hence it is important for people in these occupations to take proper protective measures and also take utmost care when even minute symptoms of COPD are identified.

Today, COPD is one of the biggest causes of death in the United States and the situation is only getting worse with time. A proper understanding of what is COPD and the symptoms of COPD would help to prevent this progressive breathing disorder from causing more damage.