Etiology

Question 1

what is the leading cause of COPD?

Answer 1

cigarette smoking

Question 2

what happens when adolescents start smoking before they are done growing?

Answer 2

it will inhibit maximum lung development

Question 3

what percentage of people with COPD have a history of smoking?

Answer 3

80-90%

Question 4

how does smoking effect the lungs?

Answer 4

is toxic to cells of the lungs and also impairs the mechanisms that are responsible for lung tissue repair

Question 5

what two types of smoking have been implicated in COPD?

Answer 5

active and passive

Question 6

what genetic susceptibilities have been identified?

Answer 6

polymorphisms of genes that code for TNF, surfactant, proteases and antiproteases

Question 7

what is the heterogeneous nature of COPD?

Answer 7

can be attributed to multiple genetic and environmental factors as well as gene-gene and gene-environment interactions known as epigenetics

Question 8

what role do genetics play?

Answer 8

have a role in how these phenotypes are expressed and how gene-environment interactions contribute to disease manifestations such as exacerbations

Question 9

what are the environmental risk factors?

Answer 9

long term exposure to inhaled occupations; dusts or chemicals, indoor pollution from heating and cooking with biomass fuels and outdoor air pollution

Question 10

what are other risk factors?

Answer 10

childhood resp infections, asthma, airway hyper-responsiveness, nutritional compromise, impairment of fetal development resulting in low birth weight and infants that develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia