Chronic bronchitis

Details

• Personal Author:
  Morgan WKC
• Description:
  Because of the confusion in terms and language that had been prevalent for many years, several years ago The Medical Research Council of Great Britain devised a definition for chronic bronchitis, that is, the presence of cough and sputum for at least 3 months in the year for 2 successive years. Before a diagnosis of chronic bronchitis can be made, not only must the above criteria be met, but it is also necessary to exclude other causes of a productive cough such as bronchiectasis and tuberculosis. While this definition has done much to standardize terms and had been widely accepted, it has several drawbacks. First, many subjects with early chronic bronchitis have cough and sputum for less than the required 3 months each year and thereby fail to fulfill the criteria. Others, especially women, are reluctant to admit to cough and sputum and tend to dismiss their symptoms as a smoker's cough. Second, chronic bronchitis is a clinical diagnosis which is difficult to confirm pathologically in life. Nevertheless, mucous gland hypertrophy and goblet cell hyperplasia may be demonstrated in the larger airways in resected lungs or at autopsy. While chronic bronchitis in the absence of emphysema can cause shortness of breath and an increase in airway resistance, the disease commonly occurs in association with emphysema. When the two conditions are present in the same patient, either or both may be responsible for dyspnea. If emphysema were the predominate cause of the airway obstruction and if the patient were to give up smoking so that his chronic bronchitis would clear up completely, shortness of breath would persist largely unchanged. On the other hand, should dyspnea largely be related to chronic bronchitis, cessation of smoking would have a much greater effect on the symptoms. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Bronchitis Medical Treatment Respiratory System Disorders Treatment
• ISSN:
  0070-2102
• Publisher:
  W. B. Saunders
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Book
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  ALFORD - Appalachian Laboratory for Occupational Respiratory Disease
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  113-116
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047747
• Citation:
  Curr Ther. Conn HF, ed. Philadelphia, PA: W. B. Saunders, 1973 Jan; :113-116
• Editor(s):
  Conn HF
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1973
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Current Therapy: Latest Approved Methods of Treatment for the Practicing Physician
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:05488e7baec33ce7d08a18f6da8ef526c75d08771d05f09c97755122c5a4e56aab201d82257fe966f12a9588d56144c6a7c9900205c93eb627794a51c6bc1b8f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202739/cdc_202739_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.60 MB ]