- The biggest problem with this disease is that there is no cure and existing medical treatments are not cheap.
- From Julio Cortázar and Samuel Beckett to Fiódor Dostoyevski, there are some famous people diagnosed with COPD.
- World COPD Day is commemorated every third Wednesday in November.
Public recognition offers multiple benefits but does not make people invulnerable. Especially when it comes to health, everyone has the same risk of developing a wide range of conditions. In this case, the The list of celebrities who have been diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is quite extensive and in some cases it was even the reason for their death.
Although it is often not mentioned, it is actually a problem that affects 7.8% of adults over 40 years of age. In fact, it is currently ranked 10th on the list of leading causes of death in Mexico.
But it is not a current problem but one that has persisted for decades. One of the biggest challenges is underdiagnosis. This was evidenced in the PLATINUM study 2005 when it was shown that 86% of people with COPD had not been diagnosed. In addition, there are studies where it is reported that approximately Half of the individuals diagnosed with this disease had never had spirometry performed.
COPD symptoms and risk factors
The chronic cough it is often the first symptom that occurs with this disease. Although in most patients it is ignored considering that it is a minor problem. In many cases, it takes months and even years for someone to decide to see a doctor for a professional review.
With regard to risk factors, one of the biggest is smoking. The vast majority of patients are people who have smoked for years. And not just a small number of cigarettes but dozens a day.
Although perhaps the biggest problem is that there is no cure for this disease. What there is are medical treatments, although they are not cheap because they usually have a price that varies between 20 thousand and 40 thousand pesos per year.
Direct costs increase with the severity of COPD. The main out-of-pocket expenses for patients are medications, oxygen therapy and payment in hospitalizations, For this reason, it becomes so important to have adequate control and, above all, an opportune diagnosis to avoid the progression of the disease.
celebrities with COPD
Having international fame does not prevent a person from getting sick. A clear example is the writer Julio Cortazar, who is considered one of the greatest representatives of the Latin American boom. His work “Hopscotch” surprised from its initial publication by its multiple readings. In his case, his addiction to tobacco was one of the reasons why he developed COPD and he ultimately passed away in 1984 when he was 69 years old.
A similar case happened to the Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom, who was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II. In her case, she started smoking since she was a teenager and it was a habit she never gave up. Her health gradually deteriorated over the last two decades of her life. She was a heavy smoker for most of her adult life and she had lung surgery in 1985, a bout of pneumonia in 1993 and at least three strokes between 1998 and 2001.
Finally we share a Graphic prepared by the Saludiario team with 10 celebrities who have or have had COPD.
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