Chronic bronchitis

For a lay person:

Chronic bronchitis is long-term inflammation of the airways that causes a cough with mucus on most days for months at a time, returning year after year. It is usually caused by smoking, and sometimes by dust, fumes or air pollution. It is one form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and tends to worsen if the cause continues.

For a trained medical person:

Defined clinically as productive cough for at least three months in each of two consecutive years, reflecting mucus hypersecretion and airway inflammation, mainly from tobacco smoke, occupational dusts and biomass fuel; with airflow limitation it forms part of COPD. Assessment includes spirometry to establish airflow obstruction, chest radiography and exclusion of bronchiectasis, tuberculosis and cancer. Management is smoking cessation, inhaled bronchodilators (and inhaled corticosteroids where indicated), vaccination, pulmonary rehabilitation and prompt treatment of exacerbations.

In Chinese medicine:

Liu and Tseng's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Simple Type; Heat Damage Lung Collaterals Syndrome (Bronchitis with Bronchie ctasis); Spleen Deficiency with Phlegm-Damp; Lung Deficiency with Phlegm-Heat; Remission Period. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: Seek urgent care for severe breathlessness, blue lips, confusion, chest pain or coughing up blood. See a doctor for a flare-up with more breathlessness or changed mucus, and for help to stop smoking.