What are the characteristics and main causes of chronic bronchitis? Chronic bronchitis is a chronic, non-specific inflammation of the trachea, bronchial mucosa and surrounding tissues. It is characterized clinically by chronic cough, sputum or wheezing and recurrent attacks. Chronic cough, sputum or wheezing, with episodes lasting 3 months per year for 2 years or more, and recurrent episodes that can exclude other heart and lung diseases, some patients may develop into obstructive emphysema and chronic pulmonary heart disease. This disease is a common disease, the prevalence rate of 4% of the population, mostly in the middle-aged and elderly, more than 50 years old can be up to 13%. The main cause is the formation of chronic non-specific inflammation of the bronchi due to repeated infection by viruses and bacteria. When the temperature drops suddenly, the small blood vessels in the respiratory tract spasm ischemia, the defense function decreases to facilitate the disease; smoke dust, pollution and other chronic stimulation of the atmosphere can also develop; smoking makes the bronchial spasm, mucous membrane variation, cilia movement decreases, mucus secretion increases to facilitate the infection. Under what conditions are susceptible to chronic bronchitis and emphysema? The older you get, the more your lung function decreases, the weaker the defenses of your airways such as trachea, bronchi and bronchioles, and your immunity to microorganisms decreases. For example, the occasional cold when you are young, even without treatment, as long as you rest and drink more water, you will naturally heal after a few days. But when the elderly suffer from a cold or upper respiratory tract infection, if antibiotics are not applied in time, after a few days, the sputum coughed up may turn from white to yellow, which means that the infection has extended to the lower respiratory tract and acute bronchitis, or even pneumonia, has occurred. The average prevalence of slow-onset bronchitis in people aged 14 and above is 4%, while it rises to 13% in people aged 50 and above, as evidenced by the national survey of slow-onset bronchitis. 2. The lower the temperature, the higher the prevalence of TCM. The lowest temperature after October to March every year, the greater the possibility of acute bronchitis or chronic bronchitis acute attacks. The weather in the north is colder than in the south, so the prevalence of chronic bronchitis in the north is higher than in the south. The greater the difference in temperature between day and night, the higher the incidence of chronic bronchitis, for example, in mountainous areas, where the difference in temperature between day and night is large, the incidence of chronic bronchitis is also higher than in plain areas. In areas with poor heating conditions or no heating conditions (such as some areas in Sichuan Province), although the winter climate is not as cold as in the north, but the indoor temperature is sometimes lower than the outdoor, residents are prone to bronchitis. Therefore, the prevalence of chronic bronchitis can be relatively high. 3, nutritional conditions poor nutritional conditions, protein (meat, eggs, fish, soybean products) intake is insufficient, so that the blood protein (including albumin, globulin) content is low, resulting in the formation of antibodies against microorganisms less, the resistance to microorganisms is low. This means that the immunity will be reduced and you will easily get chronic bronchitis. Lack of vitamins, especially vitamin A and vitamin D, makes the respiratory resistance low and also prone to bronchitis. Therefore, the incidence of chronic bronchitis may be higher in developing countries than in developed countries, which is due to the fact that the nutritional conditions of people in poor countries are not as good as those of people in rich countries. 4, living conditions housing crowded, poor heating conditions in winter, open windows and ventilation less residents, the prevalence of chronic bronchitis may be higher. This is because if a person in the same room suffers from a cold, upper respiratory tract infection or an acute attack of chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, this person coughing, disease-causing microorganisms may contaminate the air through droplets and infect the surrounding people. This is the reason why residents with crowded living rooms and fewer open windows for ventilation are prone to chronic bronchitis. Is chronic bronchitis contagious? Chronic bronchitis is a chronic respiratory disease, it is not contagious, so it is not infectious. However, when chronic bronchitis is accompanied by infections with bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella, and Staphylococcus aureus, which are more virulent and easily resistant, the patient coughs up sputum that expels such bacteria and contaminates the air, which is a threat to people with weak body resistance, and such people are easily infected with such bacteria, but it cannot be considered that chronic bronchitis is a contagious disease. The chronic bronchitis prevention and treatment Chronic bronchitis is defined as a cough, sputum or wheezing that continues to develop for three months each year and continues for two years or more, while other respiratory diseases can be excluded. The first thing to know is the cause of the disease. Chronic bronchitis is the result of a combination of factors. Atmospheric pollution (such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, chlorine, ozone, etc.), dust, irritating fumes caused by chronic irritation. The prevalence of chronic bronchitis in smokers is two to three times higher than in nonsmokers, and recurrent respiratory viral, mycoplasma, and bacterial infections are also important causes of the development of chronic bronchitis. The main symptom of chronic bronchitis is coughing, sputum, and in severe cases, wheezing. In winter, when the temperature is cold, the body’s resistance is low, especially when the cold or flu occurs, it is easy to combine various pathogens of infection and acute attacks, when the symptoms increase. The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who have been in the business for a long time. Therefore, chronic bronchitis patients should completely eliminate tobacco. (2) Avoid cold food: chronic bronchitis patients, the longer the disease, most of the spleen, lungs, kidney yang deficiency, the cold food response is greater. Because the cold nature of stagnation, cold main collection, over-eating cold food can make the trachea spasm, is not conducive to the excretion of secretions, thus aggravating the cough and asthma, so that phlegm is not easy to cough up. In addition, cold food can damage the spleen and stomach Yang Qi, and if the spleen and stomach are cold, they will not be able to transport and transform, resulting in the growth of phlegm, blocking the airway and aggravating the cough. Therefore, patients with chronic branch should eat less cold food. (3) Avoid deep-fried and spicy stimulating foods: deep-fried and other greasy foods are not easy to digest, easy to produce internal heat, decoction of fluid, can help wet produce phlegm, blocking the lung channel, leading to cough and asthma aggravation. Spicy foods such as chili peppers, onions, garlic, pepper, etc., can help produce phlegm after eating, and can stimulate the bronchial mucosa, causing local edema and aggravating cough and asthma. Therefore, chronic bronchitis patients should avoid eating fried and spicy stimulating food. (4) Avoid eating fishy things: metamorphosis is one of the causes of chronic bronchitis, and fish, shrimp, crab and eggs, fresh milk or dairy products are common allergens. Therefore, patients with chronic bronchitis, should avoid eating these types of food.