Smoking and Emphysema

• Smoking causes emphysema. Emphysema is a disease that affects the air sacs and/or the smallest breathing tubes in the lungs. Simply put, the lungs lose elasticity, similar to an overused rubber band. This causes the affected areas to become larger.

• The air sacs become larger because the less elastic walls stretch and break, creating larger, less efficient air sacs. These large air sacs have difficulty with putting oxygen into the blood stream. As a result, ‘stale' air gets stuck in the air sacs causing the lungs to become big or over inflated. Lungs that are over-inflated do not work as well.

• The main symptoms of emphysema are: shortness of breath, coughing, fatigue, weight loss, and lowered ability to be physically active.

• Two thirds of men and one fourth of women have emphysema at death. Approximately 8 million people have chronic bronchitis and 2 million have emphysema.

• Often, people with COPD have both chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

• Emphysema can lead to respiratory failure.