Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive and chronic lung disease with obstructed lung airflow mainly caused by an inflammatory response. The most common irritant that causes COPD is smoking because of its ability to infringe the whole lung. Breathing the chemical fumes or dusts from the environment also can cause COPD.
Dust and sandstorm (DSS) is a serious environmental phenomenon in Northeast Asia. Recently, alkaline DSS adsorb the acid chemicals discharged from the industrial areas of People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the sorbents are considered as a risk factor of the lung disease. In the large city, number of patients visited the respiratory division have increased during the DSS occurrence days.
Thus, this study examined the clinical records of the COPD patients admitted to the hospital near the Gobi-Desert in PRC to assess the relationship between the DSS outbreak and the impairment of the lung function.
Significantly lowered lung functions and the increased allergic reactions were observed in the people who stayed in the air polluted area and exposed to DSS for a long time.
These results suggest that restriction of not only smoking but also DSS inhalation, might be important for the COPD treatment, and the anti-allergic treatment seemed to be effective to suppress the inflammation, especially for the elderly patients.
