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Keeping your lungs healthy is an important part of an overall healthy lifestyle. Your respiratory system, which includes the nose, throat, windpipe (trachea) and lungs, brings air into the body when you breathe. In the lungs, the oxygen from each breath is transferred to the bloodstream and sent to all the body’s cells as life-sustaining fuel. Your lungs are part of a group of organs and tissues called the respiratory system that all work together to help you breathe. The main job of the respiratory system is to move fresh air into and get waste gases out of the body.
Oxygen, a basic gas, is needed by every cell in your body in order to live. The air that comes into the body through the lungs contains oxygen and other gases. In the lungs, the oxygen is moved into the bloodstream and carried through the body. At each cell in the body, the oxygen cells are exchanged for waste gas called carbon dioxide. The bloodstream then carries this waste gas back to the lungs where the waste gas is removed from the blood stream and then exhaled from the body. This vital process, called gas exchange, is performed automatically by the lungs and respiratory system. In addition to gas exchange, the respiratory system performs other roles important to breathing, including
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) includes two major diseases: chronic bronchitis and emphysema. COPD has been the third leading cause of death in West Virginia and the fourth leading cause of death in the US for most of the past 10 years. West Virginia’s mortality rates for COPD exceed the national rates for both men and women and among all age groups. The main reasons for West Virginia's grim statistics are:
Smoking: One‐half of West Virginia adults are either current or former smokers, a rate that's among the very highest in the nation. Tobacco smoking accounts for about 80 percent of bronchitis and emphysema cases. Cigarette smokers are 10 times more likely to die from these diseases than nonsmokers. And although a direct association between secondhand smoke and lower respiratory disease has been documented by the Environmental Protection Agency, about 75 percent of middle school and high school students report exposure to secondhand smoke. Quitting smoking is the single most effective way to reduce the risk of CLRD and its progression.
Air quality: The air quality in the Tri-State region generally doesn't meet federal quality standards and worsens diseases like asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Long‐term exposure to irritants such as dust, fumes and other pollutants may trigger or worsen lung disease.
Other risk factors: The relationship between coal mining and obstructive lung disease has long been recognized. That exposure to vapors, gases, dust or fumes on the job can also cause COPD independently of cigarette smoking and increase the risk and severity of disease among smokers is also well documented. A study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found COPD to occur more frequently in certain other industries, including rubber, plastic, and leather manufacturing, utilities, and office building services (laborers, cleaners, material handlers and maintenance workers).
Because people in West Virginia and the Tri-State community are more likely to experience lung problems and lung disease, Cabell Huntington Hospital, the Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine have established several programs for diagnosing and treating lung disease, including the Center for Lung Health, the Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Program, the Comprehensive Lung Nodule Program and they recruit physicians trained in emerging specialties like interventional pulmonology for evaluating and treating lung disease.
Chronic Bronchitis. The Merck Manual of Geriatrics defines chronic bronchitis as “characterized by a productive cough occurring most days of the month for at least three months of the year for two consecutive years.” In chronic bronchiti