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Home News Free COPD Screenings Help Knoxville Breathe Easier

Free COPD Screenings Help Knoxville Breathe Easier

Published: Thursday, December 4, 2008

The University of Tennessee Medical Center provided free lung function screenings to 130 people on World COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) Day. COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

“Many people don’t realize they have COPD, which is why these screenings are so important,” said Brent Hannah, Manager of Noninvasive Clinical Services with UT Medical Center’s Heart Lung Vascular Institute. “This is the fourth year we’ve held these screenings and the number of people who sign up for them has increased each year. That’s encouraging, because it lets us realize that our awareness and outreach efforts are working.”

COPD is a term used to describe several progressive lung diseases that obstruct airflow and cause breathing problems. The medical center holds the screenings each year in an effort to raise awareness of and combat the deadly disease.

The free screenings helped ease the mind of West Knoxville resident Grady Boyd.

“I read about the screenings in the paper and I had a suspicion I might need to be screened because I’d get short of breath during activities,” said Boyd. “It was really easy and a good experience. My lungs are alright, they’re what I expected them to be.”

According to Hannah, “COPD in general is a very under diagnosed condition. Lots of people are living with the symptoms but they try to minimize the significance of them. They don’t even tell their doctors.”

Symptoms of COPD include:

• Shortness of breath persisting for months to years
• Wheezing
• Decreased exercise tolerance
• Coughing with or without phlegm
• Chest tightness

 

The American Lung Association reports that as many as 24 million people have impaired lung function but by 2006 only 12.1 million U.S. adults have been diagnosed with COPD. The number one risk factor for developing COPD is smoking but other factors like family history or exposure to air pollution and secondhand smoke can contribute to developing COPD.

“Poor air quality will exacerbate the disease and we’re kind of known as the asthma capitol of the U.S. so there’d more opportunity to diagnose,” said Hannah.

How do you know if you have COPD? “We have a set of questions that we ask patients to help determine their risk for COPD,” said Hannah.

These questions are:

• Do you smoke?
• Do you cough several times most days?
• Do you bring up phlegm of mucus most days?
• Do you get out of breath more easily than others of your age?
• Do you use inhalers or other breathing medications?

 

“If a patient answers ‘yes’ to three or more questions then that places them at risk, high risk, for COPD,” Hannah said. “If you think you need to be screened then you should call and discuss it with your primary care doctor.”

While there is no cure for COPD treatment can help slow down the progression of the disease. To find a primary care doctor in your area call UT Medical’s Healthcare Coordination toll free at 1.877.UT.CARES (1.877.882.2737). For more information on COPD and other health conditions visit the UT Medical Center website at www.utmedicalcenter.org.