{"id":236978,"date":"2026-05-12T06:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease-develops-over-decades-and-we-are-missing-the-window-to-prevent-it"},"modified":"2026-05-12T06:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:08:16","slug":"chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease-develops-over-decades-and-we-are-missing-the-window-to-prevent-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease-develops-over-decades-and-we-are-missing-the-window-to-prevent-it","title":{"rendered":"Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease develops over decades \u2014 and we are missing the window to prevent it"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Although cigarette smoking remains the main driver of COPD, e-cigarettes are also raising concerns. Vaping aerosols can contain nicotine, ultrafine particles and flavouring chemicals that may irritate the lungs and contribute to inflammation. The long-term effects are still unclear because these products are relatively new.<\/p>\n

That matters particularly for younger people. In Great Britain, recent survey data suggest that 7% of 11-to 17-year-olds currently vape<\/a>. While that does not mean they will go on to develop COPD, it does mean more young lungs are being exposed to substances whose long-term effects are not yet fully understood.<\/p>\n

COPD is often diagnosed only after major lung damage has already occurred. Because it develops so gradually, people may dismiss early<\/a> breathlessness, coughing or mucus production as a consequence of getting older, being unfit or smoking. Respiratory organisations warn<\/a> that symptoms such as cough, phlegm and shortness of breath should not be treated as a normal part of ageing, while studies show<\/a> that COPD remains widely underdiagnosed, including among people with respiratory symptoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although cigarette smoking remains the main driver of COPD, e-cigarettes are also raising concerns. Vaping aerosols can contain nicotine, ultrafine particles and flavouring chemicals that may irritate the lungs and contribute to inflammation. The long-term effects are still unclear because these products are relatively new. That matters particularly for younger people. In Great Britain, recent [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,19,269],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-chemistry","category-life-extension"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}