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FIGURE OF 25 PER CENT!!
O P Kapoor
Ex. Hon. Physician, Jaslok Hospital and Bombay Hospital, Mumbai, Ex. Hon. Prof. of Medicine, Grant Medical College and JJ Hospital, Mumbai 400 008.
I have written in the past plenty of articles on the figure of “3". I then wrote an article on the figure of 5,12 and 36 each.What makes me write the figure of 25 for the benefit of family physicians?
Many practitioners do not realise that in private practice 25 per cent of smokers develop COPD without developing the symptom of cough. Their only complaint is dyspnoea on exertion and the X-ray chest is normal.
Vice versa 25 per cent patients of bronchial asthma present with cough and not asthma!
In future look out for such patients. The management of the above two illnesses is different. A COPD patient should live his life with the help of inhalers containing bronchodilators and stop smoking completely.
Bronchial asthma patients should be prescribed steroid inhalers in adequate doses.
The prognosis of both these illnesses is different. COPD patients should only get adequate relief to lead a handicapped life and would never become normal. A patient of bronchial asthma can get complete relief from symptoms and after few months of treatment can go into remission which in some cases may be permanent if not very long lasting.
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