It's National COPD Awareness Month! 

November is National Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Awareness Month. COPD is a chronic, progressive respiratory illness that obstructs airflow in our lungs and makes it more difficult to breathe. This inflammation of the airways can cause extensive tissue damage, leading to difficult symptoms such as coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. Over 15 million Americans are affected by this debilitating disease, which exemplifies the importance of spreading COPD awareness. Symptoms of COPD often develop slowly but worsen over time, and they can limit your ability to do routine activities. Serious COPD may prevent you from doing even basic activities like walking, cooking, or taking care of yourself. 
 
Spreading awareness about COPD is crucial, as it can help with the early detection of COPD or other respiratory illnesses. While blood pressure is carefully tracked over time among individuals of all ages, as are height and weight, we never perform tests to measure lung health unless patients report symptoms. And even then, often other tests are conducted before lung function is measured. Encouraging more physicians to perform lung function testing as part of routine care in medicine will help so many individuals that face respiratory illness to better manage their conditions. 
  

Although there is no cure for COPD, treatments and lifestyle changes such as quitting smoking and staying more active can help you feel better and slow the progress of the disease. You may also need oxygen therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation, or medicines to treat complications.  It is never too late to begin investing in your respiratory health! 
 
Monitoring your condition and the efficacy of daily treatments may allow for improved disease management over time, which may slow the rate of disease progression. Proper disease management can also lower the risk of other associated diseases such as heart disease or lung cancer. Check out this blog for more information on how you can better manage your or your loved one's COPD. 

How We're Celebrating This Month 

 In honor of National COPD Health Awareness Month, to recognize and further educate others about COPD, we will be donating five of our SpiroLink® spirometers. Our November charity donation will be announced on our website and across all of our social media platforms later this month. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram so you don't miss out on this awesome giveaway! 

Guide to Living with COPD 

Due to the progressive nature of COPD, it is important to manage symptoms daily. At-home use Pulse Oximeters and Spirometers are medical tools designed to monitor and measure a person’s lung function. These tools allow the user to measure their oxygen saturation, pulse rate, perfusion index, and pulmonary function. These are critical variables when determining overall lung health and performance and may allow the user to evaluate how effective their treatments are or share important health data with their physician. 
  

Managing COPD with Spirometry  

For those who may not know, Spirometry is an important clinical tool used to measure how well a person's lungs are working. It does this by measuring how much air you are able to exhale and how quickly. It is often used to diagnose and monitor those with asthma, COPD, and other conditions that may affect a user's ability to breathe properly (Mayo Clinic). SpiroLink®, our digital smart spirometer, is an ideal device for those managing their daily lung health. 
 
COPD remains substantially underdiagnosed in primary care and a major reason for this is the underuse of spirometry. The presence of symptoms is not a reliable enough indicator of disease and diagnosis is often delayed until more severe airflow obstruction is present. Early diagnosis is worthwhile, as it allows risk factors for COPD such as smoking to be addressed promptly and treatment optimized. 
 
A UK study of patients participating in low-dose lung cancer screening highlights the importance of spirometry (breathing tests) in the assessment of possible COPD. The study published its findings online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, which states that "the physiological changes of airway obstruction found through spirometry was the strongest signal of the presence of respiratory symptoms and thus potentially clinically relevant COPD.” 
 
In layman's terms, the study was able to show how quickly and efficiently one could be diagnosed with COPD with the use of a spirometer. This is extremely useful, as spirometers can help track the progression of COPD stages, which gives COPD patients vital insight into how they should proceed with treatment. 
  

Managing COPD with Pulse Oximetry  

Pulse Oximeters are incredibly useful tools that allow users to measure their oxygen saturation periodically or continuously. They are designed to monitor and measure an individual's SpO2, Pulse Rate, and Perfusion Index. Measuring and tracking this personal health data enables a user to access and make informed decisions when it matters most. Understanding and tracking these values daily can provide valuable insight into your or your loved one’s health condition and may allow for improved quality of life.  
 
A pulse oximeter can help individuals that have COPD by tracking their blood oxygen saturation. Oxygen Saturation is the percentage of oxygen in red blood cells. Oxygen saturation, or Sp02, is used as an indicator for measuring how effectively oxygen is being transferred throughout the human body. This can help indicate if your COPD is worsening or improving over time, which helps to better regulate your daily health and treatments. 

Still have questions? Feel free to contact us at info@cmihealth.com or call us at 888-985-1125 (ext. 1).