November 18, 2009 is the eighth World Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Day, with the theme “Breathe Easy, Stop Helpless. The World Health Organization estimates that 600 million people worldwide are suffering from COPD, with an average of 2.7 million people dying from COPD each year, making it the fourth leading cause of death in the world after cerebrovascular disease, heart disease and AIDS. It is expected that the prevalence will continue to rise and will become the third leading cause of death in the world by 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) with input from national experts. Its aim is to help raise awareness and improve the under-diagnosis and under-treatment of COPD. It works to emphasize to those who may have COPD but have not yet been diagnosed that dyspnea is not an inevitable part of aging, that symptoms can be changed, and to send a positive message to people with COPD that effective treatment can make people with COPD feel better and quality of life. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a multifactorial disease with inflammation at its core, characterized by incomplete and reversible airflow limitation, progressive exacerbation, associated with an abnormal inflammatory response of the lungs to harmful particles or gases, and can involve the whole body, leading to exacerbation of the patient’s condition, which mainly includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Chronic bronchitis, commonly known as “chronic bronchitis”, is caused by physical and chemical factors that lead to inflammatory changes in the mucous membranes of the trachea and bronchi, increased mucus secretion, and clinical symptoms such as cough, sputum, and shortness of breath. In the early stage, the symptoms are mild, mostly occurring in winter and relieved after spring; in the late stage, the inflammation is aggravated and the symptoms exist all year round, regardless of the season. It affects the patient’s work, study and life, making the patient unable to act like a normal person, which seriously affects the patient’s quality of life, and it also causes a series of complications, such as infection, pneumothorax, respiratory failure, heart failure and so on. Most patients often have to be hospitalized repeatedly because of old chronic branch, which brings pressure to both society and family and increases the financial burden of the family. Like hypertension, there is no complete cure for chronic branch, and its early stage is asymptomatic, once diagnosed, most of them are already in advanced stage, and its 5-year mortality rate reaches 30%. After years of extensive publicity on hypertension, people have become more alert, while people are still unfamiliar with LSI, and some even think that it is just a few coughs. Because of the lack of awareness, the potential harm of chronic branch is even greater. The causative factors of LCC are very clear. Many studies have shown that factors such as smoking (including passive smoking), urban air pollution, and unreasonable use of air conditioning can increase the acute onset of chronic illness in the fall and winter months, and may also become a “greenhouse” for “breeding” a new generation of chronic patients. Smoking is undoubtedly one of the most important causes of COPD, and the incidence of COPD is twice as high as that of non-smokers in China. As a result of long-term smoking, cigarette smoke and particles containing harmful substances can cause chronic and persistent inflammation of the bronchi and alveoli, which, over time, causes irreversible damage to the lungs and respiratory distress. Early diagnosis of COPD is critical. And the gold standard for diagnosis is the pulmonary function test. Just as blood pressure is measured for hypertension and blood glucose for diabetes, pulmonary function must be measured for the diagnosis of COPD, and it is an important guide for determining the severity of the disease, acute exacerbations, quality of life, and treatment. Pulmonary function tests are non-invasive, do not require blood sampling, do not require fasting, and are easy to perform. At present, the drugs used to treat COPD mainly include glucocorticoids and bronchodilators, and there are various routes of administration, i.e. intravenous, oral and inhalation drugs, which are chosen according to the severity of the disease. With the further development of medicine, the combination of glucocorticoids and bronchodilators has emerged, and the drugs are administered by inhalation, which can act directly on the trachea and bronchus of the lung, and can play a full role in a small dose with little side effects compared with systemic drugs, which is suitable for long-term maintenance treatment. Smoking cessation is one of the most effective ways to change the prognosis of COPD. This is true both for patients with airflow limitation who are asymptomatic and for patients with severe COPD. Don’t give up smoking on the pretext that it’s too late to quit, because although quitting smoking will not restore lung function to normal, quitting even now can significantly slow the rate of progressive decline in lung function and thus reduce mortality. COPD does not go away on its own, it needs to be treated, and it is preventable and treatable. By treating it early, more patients can “breathe easy and stop being helpless”!