Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) includes one or more of three separate diseases:
Emphysema
Chronic bronchitis
Chronic obstructive asthma
They all make it harder to breathe and get worse over time.
The three key symptoms of COPD are:
Shortness of breath
A cough that doesn’t go away
Coughing up thick, often colored mucus (phlegm