COPD, the world’s one of the most leading cause for morbidity and mortality and holds 4th position for causing    death throughout the   world. It has been estimated that, by the year 2020 COPD will become the third biggest cause   of death. COPD has been found to cause emptying of air from the lungs which gets progressively more difficult as it gets associated with cough, mucus production, wheezing and breathlessness. Risk factor include primarily cigarette smoking and other inhaled pollutants such as wood smoke but several other factors are also responsible. Patients carrying specific genetic characters like α1-antitrypsin deficiency are susceptible towards COPD.  So due to this factors there is severe inflammation in the respiratory tract which sometimes causes morphological changes such as hypercapnia, loss of elastic recoils of lungs etc. It may result in several co-morbidities  which includes different heart disease, diabetes, etc. which adds to the large economic burden associated with this disorder.

 

Keywords:-COPD, Risk factors, Epidermiology, Genetics, Cigarette smoking, Morphological changes, Hypercapnia.