One in 25 Irish people are at risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) due to a combination of inherited genes and exposure to cigarette smoke, a new study has found.
The study, by researchers from the Alpha One Foundation, the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) and Harvard University, is published this month in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The debilitating lung condition is linked to alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (alpha-1), an inherited condition affecting almost 250,000 people in this country.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin is a protein which protects the lungs and people with lower than normal amounts of this protein are at an increased risk of developing COPD.
Doctors leading the research are urging people diagnosed with COPD - an estimated 440,000 people - to get tested for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency through a free national screening programme.
Professor Gerry McElvaney, Professor of Medicine at RCSI, principal investigator and chairman of the Alpha One Foundation Ireland said the research was a major breakthrough in understanding the heightened risk of COPD for people with have the combination of one normal and one abnormal alpha-1 antitrypsin gene.
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