The Health Promotion Administration and health advocacy groups yesterday said that about 90 percent of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) cases are caused by cigarette smoking, and even non-smokers can develop the condition from long-term exposure to secondhand smoke.
On the eve of the 14th Annual World COPD Day, the health administration held an event with the Taiwan Society of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the anti-smoking John Tung Foundation, to raise public awareness about COPD — a term covering long-term lung conditions characterized by obstruction of the airways — such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema — which are often irreversible.
Administration Director Wang Ying-wei (王英偉) said that six of the 10 leading causes of death in Taiwan are associated with cigarette smoking, and the biggest cause of COPD, which kills on average one person every 10 seconds worldwide.
Photo: Lin Yen-tung, Taipei Times
More than 5,000 people die from COPD every year in Taiwan, he said, adding that quitting smoking and avoiding exposure to secondhand smoke are the most effective ways to prevent the disease.
A nonsmoking woman in her 50s reported sudden onset of shortness of breath and was diagnosed with serious emphysema at a hospital emergency room, Taiwan Society of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine director Yu Chung-jen (余忠仁) said.
It turned out that her father, husband and son all smoked cigarettes and she had been inhaling their smoke, Yu said.
“Because the normal functioning of the lungs is obstructed, patients often suffer from coughing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, wheezing and excess mucus in the lungs,” Yu said, adding that studies have suggested that approximately 90 percent of COPD cases are caused by cigarette- smoking, but about 40 percent of patients continue to smoke after their diagnoses.
Changhua Christian Hospital physician Lin Ching-hsiung (林慶雄) said the symptoms of COPD often progress slowly with age and can be difficult to detect, with up to 90 percent of early-stage patients not knowing that they are suffering from the disease, so smokers aged 40 or above, or people with a family history of the disease should undergo regular health examinations.
Sun Yue (孫越), a celebrity who is a volunteer anti-smoking advocate at the foundation, said he smoked for 38 years before he quit 30 years ago, but he still has to be hospitalized several times per year due to repeated lung infections caused by COPD.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
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