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(Ivanhoe Newswire) – In recent years, more women than men have developed and died from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). And the disease is still on the rise in females.

Researchers from the University of Michigan wanted to see how the disease is different in women than in men. They found manifestations of the disease differ by gender, as do risk factors, symptoms, disease, progression, and diagnosis.

COPD is made up of what used to be considered two distinct diseases – emphysema which is an abnormality in the lung tissue, and chronic bronchitis, an obstruction of the airways.

The study found one of the major gender differences was women tend to develop more airway obstruction while men are more likely to have the emphysema problems of the disease. But it is not clear why.

“It may reflect differences in exposures, or [genetic] differences in how males and females manifest damage,” senior author Fernando Martinez, M.D., University of Michigan, was quoted as saying. “Or it may have nothing to do with underlying genetic differences that are gender-based.”

The report found women seem more prone to developing COPD than men from exposure to risk factors such as cigarette smoke. Once women are sick, they are less likely to be correctly diagnosed than men. And they report more severe shortness of breath, anxiety, and depression.

Martinez stresses determining how and why COPD differs among genders is critical in advancing the understanding of the disease.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2007;176:1179-1184

This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Anxiety / Stress, Diabetes, Medical News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.