Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Overview

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory lung disease caused by damage to the lungs, which makes it hard to breathe. Often, COPD is a result of many years of smoking, which irritates the airways and destroys the fibers within the lungs. Typically, it takes years of lung damage until symptoms begin to arise, with most patients diagnosed in their sixties.