On the eve of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Day, civic health groups, artists and physicians yesterday said that it is not too late to quit smoking.
Taiwan Society of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine director Yu Chung-jen (余忠仁) said that patients who suffer from COPD may develop swollen lungs that are inflexible and have holes in them, like a loofah, and they suffer from frequent coughing, tightness of the chest and shortness of breath.
Yu said about 90 percent of cases of COPD are associated with smoking, but about 40 percent of COPD patients continue to smoke.
The John Tung Foundation said its telephone survey of more than 6,000 adults above 40 years old indicated that while the prevalence of COPD is about 2.1 percent, about 4 percent of people are experiencing chronic coughing, tightness of the chest and other symptoms, as well as 3.5 percent of people with a smoking history of more than 20 years — both high-risk groups for COPD.
Based on WHO statistics there are approximately 210 million people with COPD around the world and about 3 million people die due to COPD every year, the foundation said.
Sun Yue (孫越), a celebrity who is a volunteer anti-smoking activist at the foundation, said he smoked for 37 years before he quit 30 years ago, but that he still suffers from COPD and was diagnosed with a lung tumor in 2007.
Changhua Christian Hospital physician Lin Ching-hsiung (林慶雄) said people over 40 years old with a smoking history, a family history of COPD or who are often exposed to air pollution should have pulmonary function tests regularly.
The Health Promotion Administration said COPD can be prevented, but cannot be totally cured, so quitting smoking is critical to preventing the disease. Because many smokers are not aware of COPD, only about 2 to 3 percent seek medical treatment.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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