Harvard Health Content API

Pictures of the lungs help diagnose COPD and the severity of the condition.

These can help determine if you have COPD.

Certain viruses and bacterial infections may make symptoms worse.

A genetic disorder known as alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) deficiency raises your risk.

Smoking is the main cause of COPD, but secondhand smoke also raises risk.

This disease damages your lungs in ways that make it hard to breathe.

The walls between the air sacs in the lungs become damaged.

Persistent inflammation narrows your bronchi, or airways.

Over time, your lungs lose their ability to work effectively.

Both are primarily caused by smoking, but they damage the lungs in different ways.