Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a term that is used to classify chronic bronchitis and emphysema. These conditions cause chronic obstruction of air flow to the lungs. There is no cure for COPD but there are treatments and lifestyle modification strategies that can improve quality of life. According to the NCHS, 9.1 million adults were diagnosed with chronic bronchitis in 2002 and 3.1 million adults were diagnosed with emphysema in 2003.

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