A spirometry test, which allows to assess lung function, could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people suffering from a serious respiratory disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), doctors said at a press conference in Warsaw on Friday.
It was organized as part of the celebration of the Polish Spirometry Day, which falls on June 27. On this occasion, spirometry will be available free of charge in over 150 medical facilities across the country. More information on this subject can be found on the website of the Polish Federation of Asthma and COPD Patients’ Associations, which is the initiator of the research campaign.
As the president of the Federation recalled, Dr. Piotr Dąbrowiecki, spirometry allows to detect obstruction, i.e. bronchial stenosis. – In Poland, about 6 million patients suffer from diseases associated with obstruction – including 4 million from asthma, and 2 million from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – he emphasized. He added that in half of them (including 2 million with asthma and at least 1 million with COPD) the disease is not yet diagnosed and properly treated.
The allergist explained that COPD develops for a long time (20-30 years) and is a fatal disease, shortening life by 10-15 years.
– Smoking is the strongest risk factor for developing COPD. Only 10 percent. are other causes, such as asthma, childhood respiratory diseases, contact with industrial fumes or air pollution – said the head of the Department of Allergology and Pneumology at the University Clinical Center in Gdańsk, Prof. Ewa Jassem.
People with COPD struggle with bothersome symptoms such as constant coughing and shortness of breath. Later, shortness of breath and problems with normal activities appear. In the advanced stage of the disease, they are dependent on their movements and daily activities. Many of them are burdened with additional diseases, such as diseases of the cardiovascular system, cancer, and metabolic disorders. COPD significantly reduces the quality of life, is often accompanied by depression and anxiety, said Prof. Jassem.
– Early diagnosis of COPD is a way to extend the patient’s life – emphasized the specialist. It allows you to start treatment earlier, which in turn translates into better treatment outcomes – symptom control, slowing lung function loss, reduction of disease exacerbations and fewer hospital stays. – All this will translate into a longer and better life of the patient – noted prof. Jassem.
She recalled that the first severe exacerbation of COPD causes subsequent exacerbations to appear faster and faster. This significantly worsens the patient’s prognosis, because the risk of death increases with the loss of lung function. This was proved by, among others Canadian research among 73 thousand COPD patients. Patients from this group most often died after three years.
Prof. Jassem pointed out that a spirometry test, which shows lung function, is necessary for the diagnosis of this disease. It allows to assess, among others the volume of air expelled from the lungs in the first second of maximum forced exhalation (FEV1).
According to the specialist, every person over 40 who has smoked or smoked cigarettes and has respiratory symptoms should undergo spirometry.
Dr. Dąbrowiecki noted that it would also be worthwhile for this test to be performed by people exposed to passive inhalation of tobacco smoke, to air pollution, who have a chronic cough and suffer from shortness of breath. – We need spirometry to find more COPD patients and save their lives. The sooner we recognize this disease, the more we can offer the patient – said the allergist.
In turn, the head of the Department of Internal Diseases, Asthma and Allergy at the Medical University of Lodz, prof. Piotr Kuna reminded that in patients with asthma, spirometry allows to check whether the disease is progressing and if it is well treated. It is also important in the diagnosis of exercise-related asthma.
According to experts, spirometry should be the most accessible test. – There should be a spirometer in every allergist and pulmonologist’s office. It would also be great if they could be performed by trained primary care physicians or trained technicians in the offices of primary care physicians – said Dr. Dąbrowiecki.
Meanwhile, in Poland, patients often wait too long for the first spirometry to be performed. – Analysis of the questionnaires of patients who took part in free spirometry tests in previous years shows that people with cough, wheezing, shortness of breath, including shortness of breath during exercise, in half of the cases did not even have the proposed spirometry, but each of them had an ECG – said the allergist.
He estimated that education on the indications for spirometry is also needed by doctors.
He cited the example of a 56-year-old patient who saw a doctor in one of the hospitals in Warsaw. – This is the patient I saw yesterday. He has been smoking cigarettes for 30 years, suffers from paroxysmal shortness of breath, has difficulty breathing. She was diagnosed with a neurosis and a psychiatric consultation was recommended. Meanwhile, in the spirometric test, we obtained a result indicating obstruction – said Dr. Dąbrowiecki.
The Polish Spirometry Day and the campaign of free tests are organized in cooperation with the Polish Society of Allergology and the National Health Fund.