COPD Deaths Rising: Experts Warn Millions at Risk as Air Pollution Worsens
There is something suspicious about how COPD has become one of the biggest health challenges. While the awareness about COPD is low, it has affected millions of people and is now growing faster than any other respiratory disease. India is now home to 50-55 million COPD patients, and the experts warn that the country may reach up to 1.6 million deaths by the end of 2025. This issue reflects how much the lifestyle changes, pollution and delayed diagnosis are changing the nation’s respiratory health.
The Air That is Making India Breathless
In highly polluted cities like Delhi, the cases are rising. When the AQI keeps changing between 300 to 500, and sometimes crossing 540, the risk of the disease becomes unavoidable. Once, which was called the seasonal pollution, is now stretching throughout the year, making every breath toxic and risky.
Breathing the smoke from vehicles, industrial emissions, and dust every day has made the lung effects much worse. In this generation, the cases have increased more than asthma, TB or pneumonia.
Younger, Non-Smokers Now Show Signs of COPD
Dr Harish Bhatia, a Senior Consultant in Respiratory Medicine at Yatharth Hospital (New Delhi), has seen the cases rise and said that:
“Earlier, we saw severe COPD mainly in older smokers. Now young smokers who have never smoked before arrive to hospitals complaining that they feel breathless after small activities. The air quality is damaging lungs long before symptoms appear.”
He also highlighted that spirometry – a simple, essential test to detect COPD is still missing in many clinics, which causes late diagnosis and in the end, loss of lungs.
Indoor Smoke and Poverty: The Hidden Side of India’s Burden
The rise of COPD cases in India is not limited only to urban areas. Indoor smoke from biomass fuels is also becoming a major cause, especially among women. The WHO reports that 90% of COPD deaths under the age of 70 occur in low and middle-income countries, and that itself is a huge number.
Millions of people stick with firewood, coal, or cow dung to cook because LPG is expensive. This slow and daily inhaling of smoke causes long-term damage to the lungs and increases the number of COPD cases as well.
“Breathlessness Is Not Normal”: Doctors Urge Early Testing
According to Dr Rahul Sharma, Additional Director – Pulmonology, Fortis Noida:
“Even mild breathlessness can become an early sign of COPD. A basic lung function test can detect Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease early and prevent irreversible lung damage.”
He also added that outpatient departments have seen a 30-40% rise in respiratory complaints in the last three months due to weather changes and higher pollution rates. These patients include smokers, non smokers men and women, indicating that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has many causes, including tobacco.
Is it the Real Cause Behind India’s Respiratory Crisis?
Even if tuberculosis cases are reducing and deaths due to pneumonia are decreasing among children, the overall respiratory health among people does not look good.
Dr Ashish Shukla, Senior Consultant – Respiratory & Sleep Medicine, Medanta Lucknow, explains:
“People assume the respiratory burden is decreasing. But COPD alone causes 76% of chronic respiratory disease in India. This is the storm we are not preparing for.”
With COPD increasing so much, India’s health system faces a challenge that is preventable and unrecognized.
What Has to Change To Slow Down The COPD Cases in India?
- Appropriate measures to reduce urban air pollution
- More access to clean cooking fuels
- Mandatory spirometry in all clinics
- Early diagnosis for people exposed to smoke or pollution
- Awareness that feeling breathless is not normal
- Prevention and control of smoking
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease may be silent, but its impact is loud and growing. Unless India addresses the air it breathes and the conditions people live in, COPD will continue to claim millions of lives – slowly, quietly, and steadily.
Every breath deserves clarity, not struggle. And India cannot afford to ignore COPD any longer.
