there are other risk factors to COPD let me show this to my viewers it can also be exposure to tobacco smoke exposure to it people with asthma who smoke occupational exposure dusting chemicals exposure to fumes age and genetics – there yes there is a genetic or hereditary form of COPD it’s related to the deficiency of an enzyme it’s called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and this runs in families and it’s a it’s a hereditary condition I have a question regarding the smoking does it matter how long and how much you smoked yes absolutely there’s a smoking and there’s exposure to environmental tobacco smoke so either as long as the exposure is long enough typically equivalent to one pack a day for 10 years or you call 10 pack your history that’s basically put is putting you at a high risk of developing COPD I also wanted to add that in third world countries we’ve become aware of in recent years it’s the exposure to what’s called biomass fuels and this has to do with for instance patients that come from Central and South America where they since they were childs they cooked at home or heated the home with firewood this is considered a biomass fuel and exposure to that smoke will cause COPD indistinguishable from smoke cigarette smoke so that we’ve become increasingly aware of this over the past few years you