Grant: Operating Grant

Over the past 20 years, the number of women with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (which was in the past called "chronic bronchitis", "emphysema" or "smokers' lung") in Canada has more than doubled such that in 2011 the number of women with COPD exceeds the number of cases in men. When women develop COPD, they are more short of breath, have poorer quality of life and experience more frequent hospitalizations and exacerbations than male patients even though female smokers on average smoke less than male smokers. In the proposed research program, we will figure out why women are at increased risk of COPD and how female sex hormones may affect in the breathing tubes that may lead to lung disease.