“In Italy, people with chronic respiratory diseases are a substantial percentage of the general population, as in developed countries. We are talking about asthma, which affects 4-8% of the general population, and COPD which affects 10-11% of the population. general population, a percentage that rises to 15-20% among those over 65. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a pathology mainly linked to exposure to cigarette smoke and mainly affects people of advanced age. Therefore extremely frequent pathologies, with a burden clinical and an absolutely significant economic burden. Prevention and protection of the most vulnerable are therefore fundamental.” Alberto Papi, director of the Pneumology Clinic of the University of Ferrara, told Adnkronos Salute on the sidelines of the conference promoted by GSK – today and tomorrow in Rome (Auditorium della Tecnica) – with over 200 Italian pulmonologists gathered to take stock of the new therapies available for respiratory diseases.
“Those over 65 with COPD are often old smokers – Papi remarks – so the first thing to do is eliminate cigarette smoking as it is the main risk factor, but they also have other concomitant pathologies. Prevention means reducing the risk of evolution of the disease and reducing the risk of events that lead to the disease progressing, because a clinical worsening of COPD does not only involve an acute event with very important, if not fatal, consequences, but above all it involves a worsening of concomitant pathologies, for example cardiovascular disease it means implementing all available weapons to prevent these risks, a result that is now possible thanks to vaccinations.”
Among the therapies for COPD, “the triple therapy is very effective – underlines the specialist – which consists of three drugs, two bronchodilators and an inhaled steroid in a single device, which allow to increase adherence and optimize the results in terms of reduction of the risk of exacerbation in these patients. Thanks to the weapons we have available, vaccines and antivirals, today we are able to go beyond simple pharmacological intervention to modify the outcome of the consequence of the exacerbation”. At the moment, in addition to the flu vaccine, “we have the vaccine against RSV”, the respiratory syncytial virus, “one of the causes of COPD flare-ups, which allows us to strengthen our prevention armamentarium”.
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