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New Health Campaign to Find People with Undiagnosed Lung Disease
COPD: Know it. Check it. Treat it, a campaign to raise awareness of a lung disease called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been launched recently in collaboration with Livingston Football Club to help find people in West Lothian who may have the disease, but are unaware.
Most people have heard of emphysema or chronic bronchitis, these are all forms of COPD. COPD is a lung disease that kills more people in the UK each year than bowel, breast or prostate cancer.
In West Lothian, approximately 3,0001 people are being treated with COPD, whilst more than 3.7 million people have the condition in the UK but over three quarters of those remain undiagnosed.
Dr Ninian Hewitt, Lead Clinician, Respiratory MCN, NHS Lothian said "We are encouraging everyone in Lothian at risk of COPD to: Know it - by recognising the main symptoms of shortness of breath and persistent cough, Check it - by seeing their doctor or nurse if they experience any of these symptoms, and Treat it - by managing the disease effectively and making lifestyle changes."
Shena Brown, Respiratory Facilitator, West Lothian Community Health and Care Partnership, added: "COPD is a slow progressive disease and people can have it for years without realising. Many people who have the disease in the mild or early stage dismiss the symptoms as an inevitable sign of becoming 'out of shape', getting older or think it is 'just a smoker's cough'.
"In fact, many will only discover they have COPD when they need to go into hospital because their symptoms suddenly become much worse. That's why it's important for people to recognise the symptoms and visit their GP or practice nurse to get checked out and start treatment."
Tue Oct 04 13:02:21 BST 2011
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