>> Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD,
affects over 16 million Americans.
COPD causes lung damage that obstructs air flow,
interferes with the lungs taking up oxygen,
and removing carbon dioxide.
And produces symptoms such as productive cough, wheezing,
and exercise limitations due to shortness of breath.
In the U.S., tobacco smoke is the most common exposure
that causes COPD.
About 15% of all COPD cases can be attributed
to workplace exposures such as dust, gases, and chemical fumes.
This video provides an overview of COPD and an introduction
to several people currently living with the disease.
>> About 3 years ago, I went in and took a breathing test
with my pulmonologist, and unfortunately he came back
and said, "I had some bad news for you."
And I looked at him and I said, "What's that?"
And he goes, "You have COPD," and he explained what that was,
and I told him "There's just no way.
I've never smoked in my life."
But he goes, "You know, there's a possibility
that you got it from something else."
>> COPD refers to a group of diseases
that cause air flow blockage and breathing related problems,
it includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
The symptoms of COPD include frequent coughing or wheezing,
excess phlegm, mucus, or sputum production, shortness of breath,
and trouble taking a deep breath.
>> I was a miner, and for approximately 12
or 13 years we drilled holes in rock to expose the uranium ore.
The thing about it was is we breathed in so much of the ore
that we became fairly sick.
>> One challenge we notice
in work-related COPD is delayed diagnosis.
Individuals often don't report these symptoms early enough
and physicians often dismiss these symptoms.
And when they do recognize the symptoms
and do the appropriate tests, they often fail
to establish the connection
between past work-related exposures and current symptoms,
and that is one of the biggest challenges of work-related COPD.
>> Well, the mines shut down in mid '70s,
that's when I quit working in the mines and then I went
to work for the highway department and that's
when I started having actually problems because 6 months,
7 months after I quit the mines, I was still spitting up black
and coughing up nasty stuff.
>> The impact of work-related COPD can be quite profound.
Often it has tremendous psychological impact
on patients.
They get really upset that they are unable to do certain things
at work and at home that they could easily do.
This has devastating socioeconomic consequences
for the patient and for the family.
>> I used to like carpentry a lot, in fact I did most
of the, a lot of the housing.
And I used to do for my family, my aunts, my brother, my sister.
I used to help them with carpentry.
I used to do a lot of, help a lot of people and myself
and I can't even do my own yard anymore.
I got to pay somebody to do my yard.
Because I can't do it, I run out of breath, I get tired.
>> The families of patients with work-related COPD need
to recognize that there are physical
and psychological dimensions of this disease.
And they need to support the patient in both the management
of disease as well
as maintaining a generally healthy lifestyle at home.
>> My lifestyle has changed and is continually changing now.
My wife, she's always got my back.
She waits on me a little bit more hand and foot now
because I'm incapable.
It would, I would go down real, downhill real fast
if she wasn't there to kick me.
>> I think there's increasing recognition
by the American employers, and by the American workers,
that this disease is preventable,
and every effort needs to be made
to make this disease less common in the United States.
And if it does occur, to diagnose it early
and to treat it early.
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