New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women

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Gilda

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Edited on 15/09/2016 at 08:41

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Gilda

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Researchers from Lund University Sweden have through a new diagnostic method been able to show that the risk of developing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease could be twice as high for women as it is for men.

This means that being a woman may be an independent risk factor for developing this disease.

Johannes Luoto, a researcher at Lund University and a doctor at the geriatric clinic of Skåne University Hospital, has followed an initial group of 2,300 people aged between 65 and 100 to study the development of this disease.

"We see a clear increased risk for women contracting COPD compared with the risk for men. And it applies even when other risk factors, such as smoking and age, are taken into consideration", says Johannes Luoto.

It was previously not certain whether there was a gender difference for the risk of developing COPD, and that is partly due to the fact that there are few studies that examine who is at risk for the disease. Another factor is that there has been a recent change in the way that COPD is diagnosed, comments Johannes Luoto:

"The few studies that have been done use methods to interpret pulmonary function involving spirometry test criteria which the European and American lung research organisations ERS and ATS now consider outdated and unable to produce reliable results. These older methods do not consider the age or sex of the examined subject when interpreting the lungfunction even though we know that normal aging effects lungfunction and suspect that there may be differences between sexes"

"Our study is one of the first that uses more advanced diagnostic criteria, which take into consideration factors such as gender and age before interpretation of the spirometry results and deciding whether you have COPD or not", states Johannes Luoto.

This is a new way of interpreting the pulmonary function examination, which makes considerable differences to the results:

Besides the effects of advanced age and smoking, researchers using the more modern method LLN, Lower Limit of Normal, in their study have seen clear differences between the genders for the risk of developing COPD. There was previous evidence that women's airways could be more sensitive than men's, but the older diagnostic methods have not shown with any certainty that there is a difference between the genders regarding the risk for contracting COPD.

"Researchers and the doctors involved have not yet agreed on the method that is to be used in practice. Further studies are needed to compare the methods", says Johannes Luoto.

The previously known main risk factors for developing COPD are smoking and air pollution. The disease, which has no cure, is one of the world's most common causes of death according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

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Julie1961

14/02/2016 at 11:51

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Last activity on 11/02/2016 at 01:28

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what age are copd people dieing.or is there no age linit ty

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julie andrew

New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women https://www.carenity.co.uk/forum/other-discussions/my-library-copd/new-diagnostic-method-shows-copd-risk-higher-f-768 2016-02-14 11:51:02

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Flip5ter

03/04/2024 at 10:21

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Last activity on 30/06/2025 at 10:26

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@Julie1961 from all my experience on different forums a lot of people can live long and normal lives, by not smoking remaining active and keeping a positive stress free attitude, there are no guarantees, it can take a turn at anytime, but exercise within your ability is the best weapon against it.

i have spoken to octogenarians that have had it for over 20 years

New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women https://www.carenity.co.uk/forum/other-discussions/my-library-copd/new-diagnostic-method-shows-copd-risk-higher-f-768 2024-04-03 10:21:49

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14/02/2016 at 12:43

I have been on Carbocisteine 375 for about 18 months now to help clear congestion due to Bronchial Asthma, is there a problem with developing COPD.

New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women https://www.carenity.co.uk/forum/other-discussions/my-library-copd/new-diagnostic-method-shows-copd-risk-higher-f-768 2016-02-14 12:43:42

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Flip5ter

07/04/2024 at 15:10

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I have just used the herbal version NAC, I would check with a pharmacist, but I am pretty sure carbocistine will not antagonise or aggravate COPD it’s to clear mucus from the lungs. The information sheet that comes with it is quite informative

New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women https://www.carenity.co.uk/forum/other-discussions/my-library-copd/new-diagnostic-method-shows-copd-risk-higher-f-768 2024-04-07 15:10:59

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Julie1961

13/09/2016 at 10:07

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they say copd is caused threw smoking

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julie andrew

New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women https://www.carenity.co.uk/forum/other-discussions/my-library-copd/new-diagnostic-method-shows-copd-risk-higher-f-768 2016-09-13 10:07:45

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Flip5ter

03/04/2024 at 10:23

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@Julie1961 smoking is the main cause estimated to be about 70% causation, toxic environments and now a small percentage of diagnosis has been found to be genetic from birth.

New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women https://www.carenity.co.uk/forum/other-discussions/my-library-copd/new-diagnostic-method-shows-copd-risk-higher-f-768 2024-04-03 10:23:37

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Caron63

13/09/2016 at 17:20

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I have never smoked but was a barmaid for 15 years, so that's how they say I got it.

New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women https://www.carenity.co.uk/forum/other-discussions/my-library-copd/new-diagnostic-method-shows-copd-risk-higher-f-768 2016-09-13 17:20:59

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Flip5ter

03/04/2024 at 10:24

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@Caron63 passive smoking means that you are in a polluted environment so it is very likely

New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women https://www.carenity.co.uk/forum/other-discussions/my-library-copd/new-diagnostic-method-shows-copd-risk-higher-f-768 2024-04-03 10:24:32

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Julie1961

15/09/2016 at 08:41

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Last activity on 11/02/2016 at 01:28

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julie andrew

New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women https://www.carenity.co.uk/forum/other-discussions/my-library-copd/new-diagnostic-method-shows-copd-risk-higher-f-768 2016-09-15 08:41:14

New diagnostic method shows COPD risk higher for women

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