Emphysema, COPD, and being called a 'pink puffer'
Emphysema and chronic bronchitis together comprise chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, or COPD, which can be an industrial disease in some circumstances. Sufferers of COPD may hear the potentially less-than-respectful terms 'blue bloater' or 'pink puffer' used to describe them, and here we explain these terms, which are intended to be descriptive, rather than derogatory.
Pink puffers
When someone refers to a 'pink puffer', it means that the primary diagnosis within his or her COPD is emphysema. This is also referred to as type A COPD.
The symptoms of type A COPD include an increased respiratory rate, also called tachypnoeia (from the Greek for speedy breathing), causing hyperventilation, and increased redness of the skin, leading to the 'pink puffer' description of a sufferer. There will be less hypoxemia - lack of oxygen in the blood - than in type B, and less storage of carbon dioxide.
Blue bloaters
Blue bloaters, on the other hand, suffer from type B COPD, with a primary diagnosis of chronic bronchitis. Sufferers will have had several months of coughing with sputum being produced; they may experience cyanosis (the skin going blue) related to a lack of oxygen in the blood, and swelling of the ankles and of veins. They may also develop the symptoms of right-sided heart failure.
Prognosis is notably better for sufferers of type A than type B COPD.
Emphysema, bronchitis, and other industrial illness claims
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