Risk Factors for COPD

By Gauthier Family Home Care | October 3, 2025 | Comments Off on Risk Factors for COPD
Home care helps reduce COPD risks and support lung health

Home care helps reduce COPD risks and support lung health

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (or COPD for short) is a serious health condition in which the lungs and airways have been damaged, leading to repeated bouts of emphysema and bronchitis, and making it difficult for the person with COPD to get enough air into their lungs. There is no cure for this condition, but there are common risk factors that lead to it, so knowing those risk factors and getting assistance from home care services can help you prevent your loved one from getting COPD if they are addressed early enough.

Even if your loved one already has the beginning signs of COPD, addressing the risk factors and taking steps toward reducing them will reduce the risk of his COPD getting worse. Home care providers can help with a variety of services and strategies.

 

How Does COPD Affect Breathing

Not everyone feels the same effects of having COPD, but as the disease progresses, the area affected most by the condition is a person’s ability to breathe fully and completely, making activity difficult. Breathing becomes more difficult for several reasons:

  • The walls between a person’s air sacs are damaged and sometimes destroyed.
  • The lungs’ airways narrow as they remain swollen and thickened.
  • The airways and tiny air sacs lose their elasticity and cannot stretch and shrink back as needed.
  • The airways begin to make too much mucus, which clogs them and blocks air from flowing freely.
  • When this occurs, less oxygen can get to the other parts of the body and can make it difficult for the person to be active.

 

COPD Risk Factors

While there are risk factors for COPD that cannot be changed, there are also some risk factors that your loved one may be able to change with help from home care providers.

  • Being a smoker. While not everyone who has COPD is a smoker, or was a smoker, many of them are, and if your loved one is still a smoker, it will continue to make their condition worse.
  • Having suffered from multiple childhood respiratory infections.
  • Having asthma.
  • Being exposed to secondhand smoke from living with an active smoker.
  • Using a coal or wood-burning stove regularly for heat or cooking.
  • Living in an area that has a high amount of air pollution.

 

Managing COPD

If your loved one has COPD, his doctor has probably talked to him repeatedly about the need to stop smoking if he is a smoker. It can be hard to quit a lifelong addiction like smoking, but don’t stop reminding your loved one about how important it is to quit. And even if he’s tried and has failed, he should continue to try to stop.

Another important step in managing COPD is making sure your loved one isn’t exposed to any secondhand smoke. No one should smoke in the home where they live, and they should avoid visiting homes where others smoke.

Finally, when air quality is poor, consider having him stay indoors or wear a face mask if he has to go outside.

 

If COPD Interferes with Daily Living Activities

For some with COPD, it can make keeping up with chores, making meals, and many home activities tough. A home care provider can assist your loved one around the home if his health reduces his ability to take care of it himself. Home care providers can help with chores like vacuuming and laundry, as well as dusting to keep dust particles out of the air.

Living with COPD can be hard, but a home care provider can offer the support your loved one needs.

 

 

 

If you or someone you know needs help with Home Care in Jenison, MI, contact Gauthier Family Home Care. We provide quality and affordable home care services in our community. Call us at (616) 560-4057 for more information.

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