Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the elderly : a holistic approach

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the elderly is a common cause of morbidity and mortality. COPD becomes more prominent when it is associated with smoking related lung disease. Elderly people become disabled because of breathlessness and fatigue on minimal exercise. The scale of the problem is almost certainly under-appreciated. Elderly patient suffering from COPD do not need occupy rehabilitation beds for prolonged periods of time and usually do not require intensive community support or long-term institutional care, however, they may be no less disabled and have no higher a quality of life than an elderly with stroke. There is need for greater concentration of clinical and research effort into the problems of very elderly people with this chronically disabling condition. Elderly living in community cited respiratory problems as the commonest cause of disability, commoner than stroke and second only to musculoskeletal diseases. Irreversible airways disease alone has been found to affect as many as 40 % of the elderly population in Britain. Airways obstruction is a common problem in the elderly people and may be overlooked because of the high prevalence of other disorders such as cardiac failure, which have similar presenting symptoms. They may also co-exist in terms of chronic airflow obstruction (CAFO), chronic obstructive airways disease (COAD) and chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD), are synonymous and have each found their niche in the medical literature in Europe and in the USA. [...]