Clinical Manifestations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a cluster of illnesses characterized by difficulty breathing due to blocked airflow. Some of the clinical manifestations of COPD are chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It is a more prevalent, preventable, and manageable illness, with a global incidence of 10.1 percent in individuals aged 40 years and above (Jarhyan et al., 2022). Regarding clinical characteristics, COPD manifests as an inflammatory disease involving lung parenchyma, pulmonary vasculature, and airways. The process involves oxidative stress as well as protease-antiprotease imbalances. Emphysema manifests via the destruction of gas-exchanging surface area in the lungs (alveolar air sacs), resulting in obstructive physiology. It is also characterized by inflammatory response and difficulty in breathing leading to deterioration in the forced expiratory volumes as well the destruction of the lung tissues (Agarwal et al., 2020).
The appropriate laboratory testing entails a complete blood count to evaluate the infection, polycythemia, and anemia. It is a feasible test because it allows checking alpha-1 antitrypsin levels to rule out other causes of the condition (Agarwal et al., 2020). The appropriate imaging tool for assessing alveoli des...