Better Breathing, Better Lives

The impact of the diseases that fall under the umbrella of COPD — chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma and cystic fibrosis — is enormous for the home medical equipment industry.

More than 14 million Americans have been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and it is estimated that millions more remain undiagnosed. COPD claims the lives of 120,000 Americans every year, and is one of the only chronic diseases with increasing prevalence and growing mortality rates. Health care expenditures for the disease were $37.2 billion in 2004.

Knowledge Is Power

Early identification of COPD, followed by treatments like long-term oxygen therapy to slow its progression, has been the recommended approach since the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) report was issued in 2001. Fortunately, the push for early diagnosis has made an impact, says Bob Messenger, RRT, clinical manager of respiratory products for Invacare Corp.

“The education has been to get physicians up to speed on the importance of doing early spirometry in their offices, and those that have adopted it have been very successful,” he says. “In fact, they have reported diagnosing about twice as many patients as they had when they hadn't adopted this model.”

Yet, there are challenges to early identification. “The diagnosis and medical management of COPD has improved significantly over the last few years but there is still room for improvement. Part of the challenge in diagnosis and management is that COPD is a disease that develops over many years,” explains Joseph Lewarski, BS, RRT, vice president of clinical and government affairs for Inogen.

“Often the early symptoms are discounted or overlooked by patients, and without additional testing such as basic pulmonary function testing, the early presence of disease can be overlooked.”

Bonnie Douglas, Chad Therapeutics' director of strategic sales and marketing, agrees. “Even with increased awareness, many sufferers are reluctant to report their symptoms. Smokers often believe they just have a ‘smoker's cough,’ and those with shortness of breath might think it's just a symptom of getting older or being ‘out of shape,’” she adds.

The benefits of early diagnosis, though, are numerous.

According to Douglas, early diagnosis and treatment often result in longer, more active lives for COPD patients since they can learn strategies to live longer.