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Robert: Hi! I'm Robert from Oakland. Can a non smoker develop COPD?
Paul Scanlon: That's a very good question Robert. Here in the United States, the vast majority of people with COPD are current or former smokers. Over 85% of COPD in United States is due to cigarette smoking.
There are other exposures that can cause COPD. Exposure to certain occupational exposures, particularly welding and some dust smoking, fuel kind of exposures can contribute to the development of COPD.
There is some overlap between asthma and COPD. So some people who have asthma, who smoke, or for other reasons develop more severe long-lasting of airways obstruction, that's not quite readily reversible. Some of those can kind of fall into the COPD category.
The most important thing though is, in the developing world, most COPD is caused by things other than cigarette smoking, particularly in countries in which home cooking and heating is done with biomass fuels, sticks and leaves and animal dung and other things that people burn in their homes.
In those homes that are not well ventilated, that smoke builds up and women particularly in developing countries are very prone to COPD. It's a very common in the developing countries, not from cigarette smoking but from exposure to smoke in the homes.
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