No Smoking Day: As tomorrow's national No Smoking day falls shortly before St Valentine's day, a public awareness campaign about the dangers of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is couched in romance.
"Love is in the clean air you breathe" was the message at yesterday's campaign launch by respiratory consultants Dr Charles Gallagher of St Vincent's Hospital and Dr Sean Gaine of the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Dublin.
A renewed effort to give up smoking or to get your nearest and dearest to give up the cigarettes is the perfect accompaniment to a valentine's card, as smoking and second-hand smoke are the main causes of the killer disease.
Exposure to indoor or outdoor air pollution also greatly increases the risk of developing COPD. Although awareness of the internationally accepted term, COPD, is low, many people are familiar with chronic bronchitis and emphysema which it encompasses.
"It is one of the commonest diseases in Ireland, with some 110,000 people suffering," said Dr Gallagher, who is also president of the Irish Thoracic Society. "It causes significant disability for patients and is a major cause of time away from work."
COPD is characterised by chronic airflow limitation, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, cough, wheezing and increased phlegm production. In the early stages of the disease, breathlessness occurs mostly during physical activity but as the disease progresses, sufferers become breathless even at rest.
World Health Organisation (WHO) figures show Ireland has the second-highest COPD mortality rate of 28 industrialised nations - only Hungary is worst affected. WHO's worldwide projections for 2020 predict COPD will be the third leading cause of death from disease after heart disease and stroke. COPD is where heart disease was 20 years ago, said Dr Gallagher.
"Everyone now knows how important it is to have blood pressure or cholesterol tested; it's also important to have your lungs tested. This is particularly important if you are a smoker. Anyone who smokes should have their breathing checked."
Those who have a cough or shortness of breath for more than a month should also have their breathing tested, he said. Assessing lung function involves a painless test called spirometry, which is readily available from GPs.
"COPD is frequently undiagnosed or diagnosed after it has been present for a number of years. This is tragic because there are a number of very effective treatments that improve quality of life and health for people with COPD," Dr Gallagher said.
Dr Gaine also stressed the importance of having lung function measured. "Most people now understand that having their blood pressure measured can reduce their risk of stroke or heart attack by picking up problems early. Similarly, we need to get the message out to smokers that they should have their lung function measured.
"It's very simple, very basic but it will impact on the health of the people of Ireland," said Dr Gallagher.
By catching the disease early, there is a greater chance of managing symptoms and ensuring it does not reach the debilitating stage of COPD, according to the consultants whose campaign is supported by pharmaceutical companies Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer Healthcare Ireland.
Over time this too would reduce the impact of exacerbations on our health system, especially in winter months when many A&E admissions were as a result of COPD, they said.
The direct and indirect costs associated with COPD are comparable to those associated with breast cancer, stroke and peptic ulcer disease.
Dr Gallagher said that stopping smoking was crucially important. "It's never too late to stop. It's not easy but there is help. People should go to their family doctor as if you have support measures, we know people are more likely to stay off cigarettes."
Dr Gaine said: "It is important that smokers realise the consequences of smoking, not only in terms of heart attacks and cancer, but also the chronic and progressive lung disease. COPD results in increasing disability, breathlessness and recurrent chest infections leading ultimately, in those most severely affected, to a chair-bound state on continuous oxygen therapy.
"There is perhaps no worse way to grow old," he said.