ANSWER: Treatment can relieve symptoms and slow the progression of COPD. And there are self-care steps your father can take to reduce symptoms, too. Healthy lifestyle choices, timely medical care and careful treatment planning all can help.

COPD damages the lungs. The disease blocks airflow within the lungs, making it hard to breathe. Symptoms usually start slowly and may get worse over time. COPD is caused by long-term exposure to irritating gases or particulate matter, most often from cigarette smoke.

Although there’s no cure for COPD, it is a treatable condition. Most people have mild COPD that is easy to treat. With appropriate therapy, even people with advanced COPD can see improvement in their symptoms.

Quitting smoking is by far the best way to prevent further damage to the lungs. After quitting smoking, lung function improves slightly. More importantly, it stabilizes to a normal rate of age-related decline. Among people with COPD who continue to smoke, lung function declines at about twice the normal rate. That causes more rapid progression of disease and greater likelihood of disability and death from COPD.

Treatment to reduce COPD symptoms includes several types of medication. A short-acting bronchodilator, such as albuterol, often is prescribed to relax the muscles around the airways. This can help relieve coughing and shortness of breath. If symptoms continue despite using albuterol, a long-acting bronchodilator, such as tiotropium or salmeterol, may be helpful.

If your father develops a bad chest cold with worsening COPD symptoms — these episodes sometimes are called exacerbations — it is important that he see his health care provider to be treated right away. That treatment may include an antibiotic or a steroid such as prednisone, or both. If he has more than one exacerbation a year, or an exacerbation for which he needs to be hospitalized, your father should talk to his health care provider about using an inhaled steroid regularly. This can decrease inflammation in the lungs, reducing the frequency and severity of exacerbations.

To help control COPD symptoms, it’s important for people with the disease to get a flu shot every year and keep their pneumonia vaccine up to date. A case of the flu or pneumonia can worsen respiratory problems and lead to hospitalization. Research has shown that getting a flu shot annually reduces by half the likelihood that people with COPD will need to be hospitalized due to respiratory problems.

Pulmonary rehabilitation can be helpful for some people with COPD. These programs include exercise and nutrition education, as well as guidance and advice on how to manage COPD to maintain normal routines and stay active.

In general, oxygen therapy and other more advanced treatment, such as surgery, are only needed when COPD becomes severe. But for individuals who require these treatments, they can effectively improve breathing and make day-to-day life with COPD easier.

As you and your father consider how to best manage his COPD, keep in mind that in addition to the respiratory symptoms it can cause, COPD also increases the risk of developing heart disease, lung cancer and various other conditions. That makes it important to get regular follow-up care, make healthy lifestyle choices and consistently take all medications as prescribed.

Effective treatment is available for COPD. To ensure the best outcomes, encourage your father to take an active role in his health care and talk to his health care provider about what he can do to stay as healthy as possible. — Dr. Paul Scanlon, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

****************************

Related Articles

• Mayo Clinic Minute: What you need to know about COPD published 11/15/18
• New COPD guidelines from international panel provide updated recommendations published 9/19/18
• Mayo Clinic Q and A: COPD treatment with two types of bronchodilators published 1/31/17

The post Mayo Clinic Q and A: Self-care steps and treatment can relieve COPD symptoms appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (0:59) is in the downloads at the end of the post.
Please ‘Courtesy: Mayo Clinic News Network.’ Read the script.

These days, everyone knows the health problems smoking can cause. But how much do you know about COPD?

"It's a disease of the airways that causes obstruction to airflow and causes difficulty breathing," Dr. Scanlon says. "So shortness of breath is the most common symptom, along with cough and sputum production."

Dr. Scanlon says if you know someone who smokes, you probably know someone with COPD.

"It affects tens of millions of Americans – 7 to 10 percent of the population, depending on how you count it," he says.

While complications from COPD sometimes can be deadly, a COPD diagnosis is not a death sentence.

"If you quit smoking, lung functioning improves a little bit and then stabilizes so that ... you can live to a ripe old age with only mild impairment," Dr. Scanlon says. "You won't get substantially worse if you quit smoking."

The key, of course, is to quit.

And once you do quit, Dr. Scanlon says COPD treatment options can effectively relieve the cough and make breathing easier, which can drastically improve quality of life.

The post Mayo Clinic Minute: What you need to know about COPD appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

On the next Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Paul Scanlon, a pulmonologist at Mayo Clinic, will cover COPD treatment and prevention. Also on the program, Dr. Alice Gallo De Moraes, a critical care specialist at Mayo Clinic, will explain the dangerous and sometimes deadly illness, sepsis. And Dr. Eric Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, will give an update on advances in human genome research.

Here's your Mayo Clinic Radio podcast.

The post COPD / sepsis / advances in human genome research: Mayo Clinic Radio appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

On the next Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Paul Scanlon, a pulmonologist at Mayo Clinic, will cover COPD treatment and prevention. Also on the program, Dr. Alice Gallo De Moraes, a critical care specialist at Mayo Clinic, will explain the dangerous and sometimes deadly illness, sepsis. And Dr. Eric Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, will give an update on advances in human genome research.

To hear the program, find an affiliate in your area.

Use the hashtag #MayoClinicRadio, and tweet your questions.

Mayo Clinic Radio is on iHeartRadio.

Access archived shows or subscribe to the podcast.

Mayo Clinic Radio produces a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

The post Mayo Clinic Radio: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

On the next Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Paul Scanlon, a pulmonologist at Mayo Clinic, will cover COPD treatment and prevention. Also on the program, Dr. Alice Gallo De Moraes, a critical care specialist at Mayo Clinic, will explain the dangerous and sometimes deadly illness, sepsis. And Dr. Eric Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, will give an update on advances in human genome research.

To hear the program, find an affiliate in your area.

Miss the show?  Here's your Mayo Clinic Radio podcast.

Use the hashtag #MayoClinicRadio, and tweet your questions.

Mayo Clinic Radio is on iHeartRadio.

Access archived shows or subscribe to the podcast.

Mayo Clinic Radio produces a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

The post Mayo Clinic Radio: COPD / sepsis / advances in human genome research appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — For many people, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a distressing and recurrent illness that affects breathing ability and quality of life. While treatable, COPD remains the third leading cause of death in the U.S. In the latest issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers take a closer look at new findings and recommendations from the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) to assess updates and address the role of treatment in the disease.

Composed of an international group of respiratory experts, the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease periodically issues review of new COPD research and updates treatment recommendations. Due to the persistent nature of symptoms and frequent complex hospital admissions, COPD remains a costly disease worldwide. Among findings from the 2018 report, are the following points:

• Influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations are recommended for patients with COPD.
• Pulmonary function is essential in establishing a diagnosis, but is underutilized.
• Treatment algorithms in the new guidelines have been simplified to rely mainly on symptoms and exacerbation frequency to determine specifics of therapy.
• Other health conditions, particularly lung cancer and heart disease, play an important role in the health of those with COPD. Thus, prevention and vigilance against these conditions is important.
• The panel stresses the need for education, training and assessments at every visit, especially with the often complex medication-delivery devices that are part of treatments.

“The majority of people with COPD have mild disease that requires very little treatment other than smoking cessation and possibly a short-acting bronchodilator,” says Dr. Paul Scanlon, a Mayo Clinic pulmonologist and the article’s senior author. “For the minority of people with more advanced disease, current therapy is very effective, improves symptoms and quality of life, increases exercise tolerance, and reduces frequency of exacerbations.”

For current sufferers of COPD, there are ways to lower your risk and manage symptoms, including smoking cessation, regardless of how bad your lung function is. When you quit smoking, lung function improves slightly and declines at a slower rate thereafter.  Even smokers with lung cancer or heart disease live longer and have better quality of life if they quit. If you have frequent exacerbations (chest colds), treatment with inhaled corticosteroids, combination inhalers, or long-acting bronchodilators can reduce their frequency.

As outlined in the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease report, COPD is a common and preventable disease with a large majority of patients benefiting greatly from appropriate therapy. “In the past, health care providers were pessimistic about treating COPD,” says Dr. Scanlon. “With appropriate therapy, those attitudes are outdated.”

###

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, providing expert, comprehensive care to everyone who needs healing. Learn more about Mayo Clinic. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network.

Media contact:

• Emily Blahnik, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu
  

The post New COPD guidelines from international panel provide updated recommendations appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ANSWER: Bronchodilators commonly are prescribed for people with COPD. Bronchodilators relax the muscles around your airways so that you can breathe better. They usually come in the form of an inhaler, which allows the medicine quick access to your lungs as you breathe it in. Two of the most commonly used classes of bronchodilators are beta agonists and anticholinergics.

Some bronchodilators offer quick relief. These are called short-acting bronchodilators. They typically start working in 15 to 30 minutes, and last about four to six hours. Your doctor may prescribe a short-acting bronchodilator if your COPD is mild and you only have symptoms every once in a while. Examples of short-acting bronchodilators are albuterol (ProAir HFA, Ventolin HFA, and other brand names), levalbuterol (Xopenex) and ipratropium (Atrovent HFA).

Most long-acting bronchodilators don’t act as quickly but last longer — 12 to 24 hours or more — to relieve symptoms. Long-acting bronchodilators usually are prescribed when symptoms occur frequently. These medications act as maintenance therapy by keeping symptoms from developing in the first place. Most are not as good at providing immediate relief. Examples of long-acting bronchodilators are formoterol (Foradil, Perforomist), salmeterol (Serevent), and tiotropium (Spiriva), and there are numerous others.

If your COPD is moderate to severe, your doctor likely will recommend both types — a short-acting bronchodilator for quick relief when needed and one or more long-acting ones that you take every day to keep symptoms at bay. Consider labeling each with a marker, so you can quickly tell which is for quick relief and which is for regular treatment.

Some people with COPD are prone to frequent exacerbations, or flare-ups, of symptoms, which may require the use of antibiotics or steroids, or both. A number of medications help reduce the risk of exacerbations, including both classes of long-acting bronchodilators, as well as inhaled corticosteroids, an antibiotic (azithromycin), and roflumilast (Daliresp).

If you have frequent exacerbations despite daily use of a long-acting bronchodilator, talk to your doctor. A combination with additional medicines may work better for you. (adapted from Mayo Clinic Health Letter) — Dr. Paul Scanlon, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

The post Mayo Clinic Q and A: COPD treatment with two types of bronchodilators appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

A new agreement calls for MPR’s national programming division, American Public Media (APM) — the largest provider of classical music programming in North America — to supply up to 17 hours of streaming classical music that Mayo Clinic can distribute at no charge to patients and visitors in patient rooms.

MPR initiated discussions with Mayo Clinic as part of an outreach program. The resulting collaboration will promote healing and comfort for patients. The music supplied by MPR will feature selections from the Relax Stream on APM’s YourClassical.org.

Research indicates that music can aid healing in many ways, such as improving pain control, reducing need for pain medication, improving quality of life, reducing anxiety, and lowering blood pressure.

“Among the various art forms, music is the best studied and the most convincingly demonstrated to provide health benefits to patients,” says Paul D. Scanlon, M.D., a pulmonologist and medical director of the Mayo Clinic Dolores Jean Lavins Center for Humanities in Medicine. “We are delighted to join with MPR to bring high-quality classical music programming to our patients and visitors.”

“Our mission at MPR is to enrich the mind and nourish the spirit, enhancing the lives of our audiences,” says Brian Newhouse, managing director of classical programming at Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media. “Curating gorgeous music for the benefit of medical patients, in collaboration with such an esteemed institution like Mayo Clinic, delivers on that mission in a whole new way for MPR and is a joy to do.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Deb Anderson, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The Dolores Jean Lavins Center for Humanities in Medicine supports Mayo Clinic’s primary value — the needs of the patient come first — by integrating the arts and other expressions of human culture into the healing environment. The center collaborates with about 30 arts organizations, including the Guthrie Theater, Rochester Art Center and Rochester Public Library, to provide access to music, theater and dance performances; visual art exhibits; workshops; lectures; and art programs.

Mayo hospital patients will be able to access the Relax Stream through Mayo’s Video on Demand TV service on the Arizona, Florida and Minnesota campuses, and Mayo’s TV Humanities Channel, which airs concerts, theater and lectures, in Rochester.

Compositions by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and others will be the focus of the MPR-provided soundtrack. Only the title of the song, the composer and an identifier, “This is the Relax Stream, from YourClassical.org,” will appear on the TV screen. The audio will contain underwriting and sponsorship acknowledgments, but no fundraising or promotional messages.

About MPR
Minnesota Public Radio® operates a 45-station radio network serving nearly all of Minnesota and parts of surrounding states.  Reaching 900,000 listeners each week, MPR and its three regional services—MPR News, Classical MPR and The Current®—produce programming for radio, digital and live audiences.  Programs produced by MPR’s national programming division, American Public Media®, reach 19 million listeners via nearly 1,000 radio stations nationwide each week. APM is one of the largest producers and distributors of public radio programming in the world, with a portfolio that includes A Prairie Home Companion®, BBC World Service, Marketplace®, and the leading classical music programming in the nation. YourClassical, APM’s lifestyle classical music stream, packages classical music in an unconventional and innovative way with streams suited for life’s biggest moments and everyday situations.  For more information on MPR, visit minnesotapublicradio.org.  For more information on APM, visit americanpublicmedia.org. Source: Data are copyright Nielsen Audio. Data are estimates only.

###

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic or https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/.

The post Minnesota Public Radio, Mayo Clinic to Offer Classical Relaxation to Hospital Patients appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and my doctor is recommending an antibiotic drug long term. Why is this needed?

ANSWER: For certain people with COPD, long-term use of an antibiotic drug — specifically azithromycin (Zithromax) — is a fairly new option to reduce exacerbations. Exacerbations are episodes when symptoms of COPD become worse than their usual day-to-day variation. Some exacerbations may be caused by a viral or bacterial infection. An exacerbation, if severe, can lead to hospitalization and even respiratory failure and death.

For people with COPD, short-term use of antimicrobials — antibiotics and antiviral agents — can help fight respiratory infections, such as acute bronchitis, pneumonia and influenza, and be used as part of the treatment of an exacerbation. A 2011 study indicated that long-term, continued use of azithromycin helps prevent COPD exacerbations — even for those who don’t have an active respiratory infection. In addition to its antibacterial effects, azithromycin has anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects that likely contribute to its ability to improve COPD management.

The study included people who had COPD with an increased risk of exacerbations, most of whom already were taking other medications to prevent exacerbations. Among those who took azithromycin daily for a year, the risk of having an exacerbation declined by about 27 percent, compared to those who took an inactive substance (placebo).

There are five classes of medications that may be used to help prevent COPD exacerbations. The classes include the antibiotic azithromycin. The other classes are inhaled corticosteroids, long-acting beta agonists, long-acting muscarinic antagonists, and phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors. It’s common for more than one of these to be used at the same time, and there are multiple inhalers that combine two of these agents.

Azithromycin isn’t often the first drug prescribed for exacerbation prevention, but it may have an important role for some people with COPD.

One potential side effect of long-term azithromycin is hearing loss. In addition, people with a certain electrocardiogram abnormality — a prolonged QT interval — shouldn’t take azithromycin. Also, there appears to be a slightly increased risk of death due to heart rhythm problems associated with use of azithromycin. There also is controversy regarding the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria with long-term use of azithromycin. (adapted from Mayo Clinic Health Letter) — Dr. Paul Scanlon, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

The post Mayo Clinic Q and A: Long-Term Antibiotic Use For Some With COPD appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ANSWER:
There are definitely steps you can take that may keep chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), from getting worse. Healthy lifestyle choices, timely medical care and careful treatment planning can all help.

COPD damages your lungs. The disease blocks airflow within your lungs and can make it hard for you to breathe. Symptoms usually start slowly and may get worse over time. Most cases of COPD are caused by smoking.

Quitting smoking is by far the best thing you can do to stop further damage to your lungs. In people with COPD who continue to smoke, lung function declines at about twice the rate of people with COPD who do not smoke. In addition to quitting smoking, avoid places where others smoke. Secondhand smoke may contribute to further lung damage. Other types of air pollution can irritate your lungs, too.

It is also important for you to always get an annual influenza vaccination and keep your pneumonia vaccination up to date. A case of the flu or pneumonia can cause serious worsening of respiratory problems that could make it necessary for you to be hospitalized. Research has shown that regularly getting the flu vaccine reduces by half the likelihood that people with COPD will need hospitalization for a respiratory problem.

In the early stages of COPD, most people require little or no medication. Typically using a short-acting bronchodilator, such as albuterol, is all that’s required. The medication relaxes the muscles in the walls of your airways. This can help relieve coughing and shortness of breath and make breathing easier. If symptoms continue despite albuterol, a long-acting bronchodilator, such as tiotropium or salmeterol, may be helpful.

If you develop an exacerbation, a bad chest cold or worsening symptoms, it is important get treatment right away. That may include an antibiotic or a steroid, like prednisone. If you have more than one exacerbation per year, you should talk to your doctor about using an inhaled steroid on a regular basis. This can help reduce inflammation in your lungs.

A pulmonary rehabilitation program can be helpful for some people with COPD. These programs often include exercise and nutrition education, as well as guidance and advice on how to manage COPD, so you can continue your normal routines and stay active.

In general, oxygen therapy and other more advanced treatment, such as surgery, are only needed for people who have severe COPD. But for those who require these treatments, they improve survival and can effectively help improve breathing and make day-to-day life with COPD easier.

As you consider how to best manage your COPD, keep in mind that people with mild forms of the disease die more often from lung cancer and heart disease than they do from COPD. Both of those conditions are preventable, so that makes taking care of yourself and getting regular health care very important.

Effective treatment is available for all stages of COPD. To ensure the best outcomes, take an active role in your medical care and talk to your doctor about what you can do now to stay as healthy as possible. — Paul Scanlon, M.D., Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

The post TUESDAY Q & A: Healthy lifestyle choices, timely medical care important in treating COPD appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.