Sanghamitra Bhowmik / DNA

Mumbai, Dec 3: Two Novembers ago, Rekha Shroff developed a dry cough and breathlessness. The housewife was eventually diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). She was put on ventilator support and hospitalised for 12 days. Now she has to be constantly on alert to avoid a life-threatening attack. “I follow a strict medication regimen to protect myself from infections.”

Doctors say the city has become a breeding ground for respiratory disorders due to increasing vehicular pollution, ever-expanding construction, and unregulated burning of waste.

What is of greater concern is the increasing emergence of the chronic condition called COPD, which is progressive and irreversible. Caused mainly by smoking and pollution, it includes chronic bronchitis (inflammation of bronchial tubes) and emphysema (loss of elasticity of lungs). COPD patients used to be mostly smokers over 40, but now non-smokers and those in their 30s are also afflicted.

“There has been a 30 per cent increase in COPD cases in Mumbai in five years,” says Dr Ashok Mahasur, leading chest physician at the PD Hinduja Hospital. “If pollution levels rise, it may even start affecting children.”

Figures from Nanavati Hospital, Vile Parle, show that the number of COPD and asthma cases trebled from 560 in 2004-05 to 1,744 in 2005-06.

High cost of treatment makes COPD worse. “Ninety per cent of patients have to be admitted in intensive care units,” says Dr Zarir F Udwadia, a chest physician with Hinduja Hospital. “Indian physicians are only now waking up to the reality of COPD.”

Arjun Gupta, 55, a smoker for 20 years, recently found out he suffers from COPD. An officer with a nationalised bank, Gupta says that despite giving up smoking and taking regular medication, his condition worsens in the winter due to smog. “I have to be hospitalised once a year and sometimes need oxygen at home,” he says. “All this costs quite a lot, but there is no real solution to the problem.”

While there is no comprehensive data for India, the UK-based Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease says COPD is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, after heart disease, cancer and cerebrovascular disease. It is estimated that COPD could climb to third place by 2020.