Symptoms
Symptoms may include:
- Shortness of breath
- Chronic cough
- Limited ability to exercise comfortably
- Fatigue
Causes
The most common cause of emphysema is smoking, particularly cigarette smoking. Tobacco can paralyze the tiny hairs (called cilia) that line bronchial tubes and usually sweep irritants and germs out of airways.
Other risk factors include:
- Deficiency in the alpha-1 atritrypsin (AAt) protein, which protects lung structures. Some people carry a single defective AAt gene and some people carry two. Symptoms in either of these two types may begin between 32 and 41 years of age.
- Exposure to secondhand smoke
- Age, since emphysema most often develops between the age 50-60
- Frequent exposure to chemicals, such as car exhaust
- HIV infection
- Some rare connective tissue disorders