Although yourlungsare true workhorses, the tissues that they are made from are delicate and can be easily damaged.
There are many diseases that affect the lungs.
Verywell / Hilary Allison
How Many People Have Lung Disease?
Verywell / Hilary Allison
Over a lifetime of breathing, many people develop some jot down of lung disease.
The study also showed that the risk is increasing.
From 1990 to 2017, the prevalence of chronic lung disease increased by nearly 40% around the world.
During the same period, death from chronicrespiratory diseasesincreased by 18%, and disability increased by 13%.
The subgroup is also referred to as obstructive, orreactive, lung diseases.
Asthma
Asthmais a chronic respiratory disease that can be caused bygenetics and factors in your environmentlike allergens.
Asthma never goes away, but you’re able to control it with medications like steroid inhalers.
When asthma flares up, it’s called anasthma attack.
These attacks are resulting from inflammation and the narrowing of your airways that make it harder to breathe.
The two types of COPD are chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
If you have chronic bronchitis, your bronchial tubes are irritated and can become inflamed and narrowed.
If you have COPD, you may havechronic bronchitis, or emphysema, or both.
Smoking is amajor contributor to COPD, and quitting smoking may slow the progress of the disease.
Bronchitis
Bronchitisis the inflammation of your bronchial tubes.
These tubes carry air to and from each lung.
Like chronic bronchitis, emphysema is usually diagnosed under the umbrella of COPD.
This subgroup of diseases is sometimes calledinterstitial lung disease.
Without fresh oxygen in your blood, the tissues in the brain and heart can be damaged quickly.
Certain diseases, medications, and environmental pollutants can cause this scarring.
For many people, the inflammation that causes the scarring is from an unknown cause.
In this case, the disease is called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Over time, the scarred tissue cannot move oxygen and other gases in and out of your body.
As this happens, you might feel increasingly short of breath.
As the condition progresses, people usually developrespiratory failure.
The cause of sarcoidosis is unknown, but certain groups of people are more at risk than others.
Sarcoidosis is most common in:
Steroids are the primary treatment for the condition.
There is no cure and some people with pulmonary sarcoidosis eventually develop pulmonary fibrosis and/or pulmonary hypertension.
Pulmonary hypertension is a severe complication affecting between 3% and 20% of people diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoidosis.
It typically occurs in people with advanced fibrosis.
This extra work can wear on the heart and lead toheart failure.
Pulmonary hypertension can be genetic, but it’s also linked to other heart and lung diseases.
Medications that help move extra fluid out of your lungs, likediuretics, can also be used.
The clots can block the flow of blood and cause complications in the heart and lungs.
If you develop a pulmonary embolus, your doctor may have you takemedicationsto help prevent future clots.
Smoking is the biggest threat to your lung health.
Other than cancer, smoking is a primary cause of damage to lung tissues and your airways.
Talk to your doctor about quitting smoking and about any other changes you could make to improve your health.
Few chronic lung diseases can be cured, but many can be effectively managed with medications and lifestyle changes.
There are several steps you might take to protect your lungs.
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Updated October 28, 2021.
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Updated October 5, 2021.
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Updated August 24, 2021.
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Updated August 24, 2021.
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Updated August 24, 2021.
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2024 Apr 2;13(7):2054. doi: 10.3390/jcm13072054
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National Institutes of Health.Pulmonary hypertension.
Updated September 22, 2021.
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Updated October 9, 2021.
National Institutes of Health.Pulmonary embolus.
Updated October 8, 2021.
