Chronic bronchitis is a prolonged condition occurring as a result of swelling of bronchi, which leads to increased production of mucous blocking the flow of air into the respiratory system. To be classified chronic bronchitis certain stringent rules need to be adhered to these are:

-For two years consecutively cough with expectoration for at least of a time frame exceeding three months.

-Other lung pathologies must have been ruled out.

The most common complication that a patient is affected with is the shortness of breath so much so that it affects day to day activities.

One of the major factors leading to chronic bronchitis is smoking, and smokers have a high susceptibility of the same. In the initial stages of the condition, the patient suffers from severe cough in early hours of the day, but as the pathology of the condition manifests chronic the patient suffers from continued bouts of cough with expectoration of mucus. This phenomenon in layman terms] is known as smokers cough.

In the incipient periods of the disease the larger air ducts are affected, but in time even the smaller bronchi are affected. As the condition [progresses this stage the sufferer’s VP ratio (ventilation perfusion ratio) balance is disturbed i.e the ratio between the air breathed in and air breathed out. The results of this deviated VP ratio lead to various problems like insufficient amount of dissolved oxygen in blood or hypoxemia causing enhanced complications like increased effort of breathing which if not corrected finally leads to cor pulmonale.

When compared to acute bronchitis chronic bronchitis as the name suggests is a grave condition, the patients suffering from acute bronchitis managed with antihistamines and antibiotics but the same cannot be said chronic bronchitis because of increased chances of reoccurring bacterial and fungal infections.

Hence the patients suffering from chronic bronchitis are advised to take care of themselves and inform about the minutest of difficulties and get admitted into the intensive care units of hospitals till they feel better.

As the disease progresses there is decreased ciliary movement hence the difficulty in coughing out the mucous, this coupled with swelling of bronchi leads to decreased protection against air borne and droplet infections.

Chronic bronchitis is a difficult condition often occurring in tandem with other respiratory conditions like emphysema and asthma. And in advanced stages of chronic bronchitis coupled with emphysema there is an overall decrease in the dead space volume and the condition may lead to blue bloaters in which the whole skin has a bluish tinge or cyanosis for want of oxygen.

Chronic bronchitis as a disease grows slowly but unfortunately it has no cure and the only treatments are directed in direction of mollifying of presenting complications.