Abstract

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is expected to turn out to be the 3rd most widespread reason of mortality and 5th most frequent source of morbidity universally by 2020. COPD is described as “an ailment characterized by airflow limitation that is not fully reversible” [1]. According to the BREATHE study in Middle East Asian (MEA) region, more than thirteen million individuals in MEA are ill with COPD because of cigarette smoking with a prevalence rate of 2.1 percent in the population aged 40 years and above, in Pakistan. It was also estimated that 6.9m people experience COPD symptoms in Pakistan [2-4]. The socio-economic impact of COPD is also very substantial. In the United Kingdom, COPD is the source of nearly eighteen million operational days lost yearly, for men and 2.1 million operational days lost yearly, for women [1]. The yearly financial costs of COPD (in healthcare costs and productivity lost) are vast and were predicted to be approximately 49.9 billion dollars in 2010 in USA [5].