Risk factors of COPD

Common risk factors

• Tobacco smoking is the most common risk factor for COPD worldwide. Approximately 20% of smokers develop this disease.
• Indoor air pollution from biomass fuel used for cooking and heating in poorly vented dwellings, which particularly affects women in LMICs. About 50% of subjects who died from COPD in developing countries have been exposed to biomass smoke during their lifetime.
• Occupational exposures such as organic and inorganic dusts, chemical agents and fumes. About 15–20% of COPD cases are due to occupational exposures to pollutants at the workplace.
• Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is a risk factor in LMICs. Around 50% of patients suffer from pulmonary impairment after microbiological cure of PTB, of which 68% develop COPD.

Other risk factors

• Outdoor air pollution
• Genetic factors (eg. Hereditary alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency)
• Ageing: 40 years and above
• Sex: Female sex
• Factors that affect lung growth and development
• Low socioeconomic status
• Airway remodelling in asthma overlaps with COPD
• Chronic bronchitis
• Severe childhood respiratory infections