We are now at the height of the cold and flu season. This is an especially dangerous time for several groups of patients: the very young, very old and those with underlying diseases such as COPD or heart disease.
Respiratory infections in patients with a chronic lung disease such as COPD increases the lung and airway inflammation which is already part of the disease process. By now, my readers understand the term exacerbation, which is the name doctors give to the flair up of disease that occurs in our lung disease patients.
Exacerbations may vary in severity and can be associated with several consequences. First, patients with significant lung disease have symptoms that are so intense that it takes them to the local hospital emergency room often times getting admitted. The exacerbation usually takes time to subside and 7% of patients are not fully recovered in 90 days, that’s 3 months!
The second thing that is very concerning is that an exacerbation is very often associated with disease progression. In these cases, the decline in lung function associated with the exacerbation does not resolve and results in further and permanent reduction in lung function.
What’s the take away from all this? Patients who are at risk, like the ones I mentioned at the beginning of this article, need to protect themselves at all times. Infectious causes of exacerbations can be life threatening and need to be taken seriously. Wash your hands, consider using a mask at times and really consider vaccines.
