The main symptom of COPD is breathlessness.

November 19 is World Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Day, a milestone marked every year to raise awareness on the disease, which affects over 10,000 Maltese patients and nearly 210 million people worldwide.

The annual cost of COPD in Europe exceeds €38.6 billion. The number of Maltese sufferers is based on the latest European Health Interview Survey, which estimates a four per cent prevalence of COPD in Malta. A large number of these patients remain undiagnosed or are diagnosed when they are already at an advanced stage of the disease.

COPD is an umbrella term to describe conditions that limit airflow to the lungs. This includes both chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The disease impacts patients’ health, their day-to-day life and, ultimately, survival.

The main symptom of COPD is breathlessness, which can stop people from performing simple activities like washing and getting dressed. The main cause of COPD is smoking.

In a recent GSK survey of COPD patients in the UK, the emotional impact of breathlessness was found to be far higher than previously understood, with as many as 41 per cent of patients not proactively discussing the impact of breathlessness with their doctors.

Pharmaceutical and healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline is supporting COPD research.