What Is the Life Expectancy of Someone With COPD?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a slowly progressive disease that causes symptoms such as breathlessness and cough.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a group of diseases with the chief symptom of breathlessness and cough. COPD is a slowly progressive disease and affects approximately 32 million Americans.

COPD leads to airflow obstruction due to the following reasons:

• Tiny air sacs in the lungs that are responsible for oxygen transfer to the blood lose their capacity to stretch and shrink back.
• The walls between many of the air sacs are damaged.
• The walls of the airways become thick and inflamed. 
• Oversecretion of the mucus blocks the airflow.

The diseases in the COPD spectrum are as follows:

• Chronic bronchitis
• Emphysema
• Irreversible asthma

In the initial stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), there may be no symptoms. Later, the following non-specific symptoms are seen:

• Smoker’s cough (nagging cough)
• Chest discomfort
• Shortness of breath
• Wheezing (whistling sound while breathing)

When the disease progresses, the symptoms include:

• Weight loss
• Swelling in the feet and ankles
• Gasping for breath
• Feeling of missed beat or palpitations
• Respiratory failure
• Blue or gray lips and/or fingernails 
• Disorientation

Patients with the following conditions are at a risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD):

• Continuous exposure to air pollution
• Smokers
• Exposure to second-hand smoke
• Infectious diseases that destroy the lung tissue
• Chronic asthma
• Immune deficiency syndromes
• Vasculitis syndrome (inflammation in the blood vessels)
• Connective tissue disorders (diseases that affect the parts of the body that connect the structures of the body)
• Genetic problems such as Salla disease

Physicians use the following methods and tests to diagnose chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD):

• Taking a through history
• History of tobacco smoking, occupational exposure to dust and chemicals
• Information about exposure to air pollutants or history of any lung disease
• Chest X-rays
• Spirometry (lung function tests)
• Computed tomography (CT) of the lungs
• Measurement of the saturation level of oxygen in the blood with the help of arterial blood gas or a pulse oximeter

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management involves various therapies, which include:

• Cessation of cigarette smoking
• Taking vitamin and nutritional supplements
• Exercise training and breathing exercises
• Nutritional counseling therapy
• Energy-conserving therapies
• Psychological counseling 

Medications to treat COPD include the following:

• Bronchodilators relax muscles around the airways
• Oxygen therapy
• Steroids to reduce swelling in the airway
• Antibiotics to treat a respiratory infection
• Vaccination
• Drugs that thin the mucous plug

Patients with severe COPD may require a surgery to remove the diseased portion of the lung or even lung transplantation.

Depending on the disease severity, the five-year life expectancy for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) ranges from 40%-70%. That means 40-70 out of 100 people will be alive after five years of diagnosis of  COPD. 

COPD is a chronic, gradually progressing lung disease that is not completely curable. Timely medical treatments can slow the progression of this disease.