As Sunethra Perera lies in her hospital bed, there is not much she can do but look forward to the day when she can finally go home. Perera, a recipient of a double lung transplant, has spent nearly two months in the intensive care unit. As a non-smoking woman who has rarely had other health problems, Perera is part of a growing group of women in Canada, and across the world, who have fallen victim to the effects of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD).
COPD is an umbrella term for a multitude of diseases that produce difficulty in breathing. This is mainly due to an over-production of mucus, which blocks airways, or to the loss of elasticity in the lungs, making it difficult to exhale. Every breath can be a struggle for COPD patients, many of whom are dependent on portable tanks of oxygen.
A common link between women with COPD is the inhalation of fumes and dust, which damage the lungs. More often however, inhaling first-hand and second-hand cigarette smoke is causing COPD in young women. As our population ages, the damage caused by smoking is manifesting itself in the growing number of people seeking medical attention to help combat the disease.
Kenneth Chapman, a physician at the Asthma and Airway Centre of the Toronto Western Hospital and a U of T researcher is concerned about this trend. In a study published in the journal Clinics in Chest Medicine, Chapman determined that due to their smaller airway size and tendency to develop lung disease at an earlier age than men, more women will die from COPD this year than breast cancer.
