Under the motto " All together to end COPD ", this year's World COPD Day will focus on the treatment options of patients. Medications or long-term oxygen therapy can facilitate and prolong the lives of COPD sufferers. Nonetheless: COPD is incurable and is steadily increasing. The WHO estimates that COPD will become the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2030.
Scientists and physicians are therefore researching further treatment options, including at the DZL Munich site.
Dr. Önder Yildirim, for example, is investigating an active substance against fungal infections. It could also be used in lung diseases to prevent the destruction of the alveoli. At the moment, the scientists are looking for a way to bring this drug into the alveoli.
At the Institute of Health Economics and Management in Health Care, Dr. Larissa Schwarzkopf ism looking at Disease Management Programs for COPD patients. Here she tells in an audio interview how she can extract meaningful research results from numbers and data.
Another research goal is the proteasome, the protein complex responsible for quality control in the cell. The researchers around Dr. Silke Meiners want to find out what happens in the proteasome when COPD gets worse.
The World COPD Day was launched in 2002 by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Diseases (GOLD). The initiative aims to raise awareness of the disease in more than 50 countries around the world with this project.