Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) makes it hard for you to breathe. Coughing up mucus is often the first sign of COPD. Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are common COPDs.

Your airways branch out inside your lungs like an upside-down tree. At the end of each branch are small, balloon-like air sacs. In healthy people, both the airways and air sacs are springy and elastic. When you breathe in, each air sac fills with air like a small balloon. The balloon deflates when you exhale. In COPD, your airways and air sacs lose their shape and become floppy, like a stretched-out rubber band.

Cigarette smoking is the most common cause of COPD. Breathing in other kinds of irritants, like pollution, dust or chemicals, may also cause or contribute to COPD. Quitting smoking is the best way to avoid developing COPD.

Treatment can make you more comfortable, but there is no {mosgoogle right} cure.

Causes

Cigarette smoking
A primary risk factor of COPD is chronic tobacco smoking. In the United States, around 80 to 90% of cases of COPD are due to smoking. Not all smokers will develop COPD, but continuous smokers have at least a 25% risk.

Occupational Pollutants
Some occupational pollutants, such as cadmium and silica, have shown to be a contributing risk factor for COPD. The people at highest risk for these pollutants include coal workers.

Air Pollution
Urban air pollution may be a contributing factor for COPD as it is thought to impair the development of the Lung function. In developing countries indoor air pollution, usually due to biomass fuel, has been linked to COPD, especially in women.

Genetics
Very rarely, there may be a deficiency in an enzyme inhibitor known as alpha 1-antitrypsin which causes a form of COPD.

Other Risk Factors
Increasing age, male gender, allergy, repeated airway Infection and general impaired lung function are also related to the development of COPD.