750,000 people in the UK have been diagnosed with COPD

At least one in four heavy smokers will develop the progressive and incurable lung condition chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), research shows.

COPD is an umbrella term for respiratory diseases, including bronchitis and emphysema, which block air flow through the lungs, and which worsen over time.

British and Danish researchers studied more than 8,000 people aged 30 to 60 living in Copenhagen over a 25-year period.

Of the people studied, around 5,000 were smokers and just over 1,200 were ex-smokers.

At the start of the study, their lungs were working normally and they had no respiratory problems.

Their lung health was checked regularly throughout the study period.

The lungs of almost all the male non-smokers continued to work well, but this was only true for 6 out of 10 of those who continued to smoke.

Similarly, 9 out of 10 female non-smokers still had healthy lungs at the end of the study, but this was only true of 7 out of 10 of the smokers.

One in four people developed severe or moderate COPD over the 25 years.

The highest rates were seen in the heaviest smokers. They were six times more likely to develop COPD than non-smokers.

Of the 2,900 deaths recorded over the 25 years, 109 were directly attributable to COPD.

Virtually all the deaths were in people who had been active smokers at the start of the study.

Only two non-smokers died of the disease.

The risk of COPD decreased among those who gave up smoking soon after the study started - none of the ex-smokers developed severe COPD and only seven died.

Lead researcher Dr Peter Lange of Hvidovre Hospital, Hvidovre, Denmark, said: "Our main finding is quite simple - the longer people smoke, the higher the risk of developing COPD.

"Because life expectancy is increasing in affluent nations, and death rates from heart disease are falling, rates of COPD will remain high for many years to come, despite the decline in the numbers of people smoking."

The work will be published in the medical journal Thorax.

According to the British Lung Foundation, around 750,000 people in the UK have been diagnosed with COPD.

The condition is also the sixth most common cause of death in the UK.

source:www.999today.com