Half a million people in Ireland suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). But nearly half of those with it have not been diagnosed. These shocking figures come from a recent OECD study.
COPD makes breathing difficult and leads to a progressive decline in lung function. Physical effort, such as climbing a stairs, eventually becomes more difficult. Yet despite the huge numbers who suffer, there is little sign that the government is taking serious action to remedy the problem.
COPD is one of the most common reasons why Irish people are admitted to emergency departments of hospitals. When not diagnosed early, symptoms become more difficult to treat and the disease can become fatal. But early detection leads to a lesser need for hospital admissions.
However, Ireland tops the OECD league for hospital admissions for COPD. In France just 150 people out of every 100,000 are admitted for COPD and asthma; in the OECD as a whole it amounts to 242 per 100,000. But in Ireland the hospital admission rate rises to a staggering 436 out of every one hundred thousand people.
One of the reasons for the very high level of admissions has been the failure of right wing governments to invest in primary health care centres which would allow for early detection of breathing difficulties.
There are not enough clinical respiratory nurses employed in the primary care health centres that do exist. There needs to be more spirometry tests facilities and staff trained to use them.
One of the reasons for the lack of government action is that there is an assumption that COPD is causing by prolonged smoking and so it is the individual own fault.
But COPD also occurs in 30 percent of non-smokers and there is some evidence that it may be linked in air quality. Studies in Germany and Italy and the Greek case–control study suggest that subjects exposed to near-road traffic-related air pollution have a higher risk of COPD.
The high rates of COPD in Ireland means it should be treated as a health emergency with resources devoted to public health education, diagnosis and treatment.
That requires huge political change to re-distribute wealth to provide proper public services.