A 68 yo male who has smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day for

A 68 y/o male who has smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day for 30 years presents with a history of shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing with difficulty blowing air out. He reports that he used to be able to walk up the stairs of his home without difficulty and now becomes winded halfway up. He also reports tightness in his chest when he exerts himself.

Solution

All these symptoms together appears to be clearly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, shortly called as COPD. It is a chronic lung disease caused by cigarette smoking.

The lungs lose their elasticity and the expand too much which causes the air to get trapped in them which leads to cough and COPD increases the risk of heart diseases and developing lung cancer, may also lead to high blood pressure, depression.

This disease can be prevented by avoiding the cause of the disease that is smoking or by taking vaccines to protect lungs from infections.

Moreover the life expectancy of the patient can be decided based on the health of patient and the stage of the disease.