Comorbidities complicate COPD care

Generally COPD is a simple disease to treat so long as it's diagnosed early, the patient quits smoking, and the patient complies with a good medicine/ physical routine.  Yet as the disease progresses, other diseases develop, and this complicates care.

The term for a patient who has two or more diseases is comorbidity.  Comorbidities complicate care.  Treatment for one disease may cause or exacerbate another.  The disease itself may cause another, such as chronic bronchitis causes pulmonary hypertension, enlarged right heart, left heart failure, atrial fibrillation, depression, etc. 

Common comorbiditeis that correlate with COPD are:

1. Cachexia
2. Skeletal muscle abnormalities
3. Hypertension
4. Diabetes
5. Coronary Artery Disease
6. Heart Failure
7. Pulmonary Inections (pneumonia)
8. Cancer
9. Pulmonary Vascular Disease

Reference: 

• Sorenson, Helen M, "Common Comorbidities, Comlications, and Consequences in the Elderly," AARC Times, May 2012, vol. 36, Issue 5

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