JAKARTA - Symptoms of shortness of breath and asthma are different from symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (PPOK). COPK is marked by a slowdown in airflows that are not fully reversible and the slowdown in airflows is generally progressive and is related to abnormal inflammatory responses to particles or irritant gases.

"The difference is, shortness of breath at asthma will disappear completely beyond the time of asthma attack, while shortness of breath in COPD will still exist," said Professor of pulmonology from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia Prof. Dr. Tjandra Yoga Aditama, SpP(K) quoted from ANTARA, Wednesday, November 15.

In addition to shortness of breath, those who experience COPD also have symptoms, including coughing for 2 weeks, coughing fast and if experiencing worsening symptoms, increasing shortness of breath, sometimes accompanied by vomiting and increasing cough accompanied by increasing phlegm.

Meanwhile, the symptoms of non-specific COPD are sluggish, weak, hard to sleep, easy to get tired and depressed. The Director of Postgraduates at YARSI University then said that there is a lot of scientific data that shows that air pollution can worsen the condition of COPD in a person.

"Also, there will be more frequent exaserbations (depletion or recurrence of symptoms) and more complaints of shortness of breath," he said.

In addition, a COPD patient affected by COVID-19 will also be able to become more severe for his COVID-19. This is because PPOK is one of the comorbidities that makes the COVID-19 situation worse for someone.

Then, to coincide with the World PPOK Commemoration, Tjandra reminded the public that COPD is the main cause of death in the world and important lung health problems.

According to Tjandra, if it is not successfully prevented, then PPOK must be diagnosed immediately, and if it has been diagnosed, it must receive good treatment by health care facilities so that the quality of life of PPOK patients can be maintained according to their abilities.

"If the COPD patient is not found and diagnosed early, the delay will increase the possibility of exaconservation, increase comorbidity and even spend more on handling costs," he noted.

Tjandra added that smoking is the main factor related to the incident and worsening the PPOK, so people are expected to take advantage of the momentum of the World PPOK Day on November 15 to stop smoking.

Then, in addition to smoking as the main cause of COPD, there are still risk factors for COPD, namely family history, history of lung infection and respiratory tract when children, lack of antitripne alpha 1 enzymes and various types of chronic air pollution.


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