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.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the