You've never smoked a cigarette in your life, but your doctor just told you that you have COPD, which stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Are you wondering how this can be? Isn't COPD a disease of smokers and former smokers?

While it's true that in the United States, COPD in 80% to 90% of all people diagnosed was due to smoking, there is a small percentage of people who develop this disease due to other risk factors. Some of the other risk factors for COPD can include:

• Occupational or environmental hazards. Long-term exposure to certain types of dusts, fibers and chemical fumes can result in the airway obstruction associated with COPD. Secondhand tobacco smoke can be another contributing factor.

• Air pollution. People who live in areas with poor air quality seem to have a higher risk for COPD. This can be both urban outdoor air pollution (especially in areas with high levels of motor vehicle exhaust) as well as indoor air pollution from wood fires or cooking fire smoke common in developing countries.

• Genetics. COPD is more common in relatives of people who have COPD. Experts are not sure why this is. In rare cases, COPD is related to an alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency. This type of deficiency is what usually causes COPD (ordinarily a disease of middle-aged to older adults) in people younger than age 40.

• GERD. Gastroesophageal reflux disease, GERD for short, causes a backflow of stomach acid and other stomach contents into the esophagus. It can worsen COPD or may even cause it.

• Other factors. Race, gender, or even chronic lung infections during childhood may also be at work in raising risk for COPD, though more study is needed to explore these relationships further.

So, while it is not common to find COPD in a non-smoker, it IS possible, unfortunately.

How Is COPD Different for Non-Smokers?

The short answer to this question is, it isn't different. It may be harder for a doctor to diagnose COPD in a non-smoker, because it is more unexpected. But your symptoms will likely be the same, so diagnosis will come from a medical history, exam and possibly testing such as spirometry.

The course of illness is much the same as well. COPD is a chronic progressive airway disease. There is no cure and it will get worse over time, but the progress can be slowed with a healthy lifestyle and the right treatment plan. COPD in smokers does often progress more quickly than non-smokers however, because smokers find it hard to quit smoking.

So, the biggest difference in COPD in non-smokers is the treatment plan. For smokers, the most important part of the treatment plan is to quit smoking (and not to start again). But, obviously, for non-smokers, this does not need to be a part of your plan (though avoiding secondhand smoke should be). So your treatment plan will focus on a healthy lifestyle (including sleep, exercise and healthy eating) as well as a medication regime suitable to your needs.