A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY TO FINDOUT THE MAJOR ETIOLOGICAL FACTOR BEHIND THE UPSURGE AND PREVALENCE OF COPD CASES IN KASHMIR *Shahid Shafi Rather Student of B.Sc Nursing (Honours) at Ramzaan College of Nursing Galandar Pampore, 192121 Jammu & Kashmir, India . ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT COPD is projected to move from sixth to the third most common cause of death worldwide within next twenty years, whilst rising from fourth to third in terms of morbidity within the same time. The study was done with the objectives to study the major etiological factor behind upsurge & prevalence of COPD in Kashmir & to suggest early preventive steps for control of COPD. A community based cross sectional study was carried out to measure the prevalence of COPD in men and women greater than 45 years of age. The study was conducted purposively in South Kashmir’s Pulwama District in Jammu and Kashmir.The study was carried out in both rural and urban areas, with Main Town Pulwama representing the urban population & various villages of Pulwama representing the rural population. The multi-stage sampling was adopted for study with total of 100 study population (greater than 45years of age) was taken up for the study. The subjects were included, in the study only after obtaining their written consent. Questionnaire was set regarding the symptomatology of COPD like presence of cough, breathlessness, wheezing etc. The subjects who were positive for these symptoms did undergo x-ray chest and Spirometry. A total of 100 study subjects were diagnosed as having COPD Out of the total study population of 100; among the subjects most common symptom was cough present in 64.The Results indicated about 85% Pateint’s were smokers.The revelation of COPD should give an impetus to take remedial measures at the very outset; thereby playing a distinctive role in prevention. There is an increasing trend of developing smoking habits in both males and females after the age of puberty. This has given an increased population of COPD Copyright©2024, Shahid Shafi Rather. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. INTRODUCTION COPD has been defined as disease, characterized by airflow limitation that is not fully reversible with a post bronchodilator ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second to forced vital capacity (FEV1)/FVC of <0.7), by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) and International collaborative effort to improve awareness, diagnosis and treatment of COPD.COPD includes emphysema, an anatomically defined condition characterized by destruction and enlargement of the lung alveoli. Chronic bronchitis, a clinically defined condition with chronic cough and phelgem and small airway disease, a condition in which small bronchi are narrowed. Within the next twenty years COPD is projected to move from sixth to the third most common cause of death worldwide, whilst rising from fourth to third in terms of morbidity within the same time. An association between the prevalence of COPD and low Socio-economic cases has also been found. Various extra pulmonary side effects of COPD are as follows: 1. Weight loss. 2. Cachexia. 3. Skeletal muscle dysfunction which is due to Sedentary life style. Due to shortness of breath during exercise, patients with COPD often adopt a sedentary life style; physical inactivity causes net loss of muscle mass, reduces the force generating capacity of muscle and Decreases its resistance to fatigue. a. Tissue hypoxia. b. Systemic inflammation. c. Oxidative stress. d. Tobacco smoke. 4. Skelton muscle dysfunction has two obvious consequences. a. Weight loss b. One of the main causes of exercise limitation. c. Cardiovascular effects. d. Coronary artery disease. e. Cor pulmonale, CCF. ISSN: 2230-9926 International Journal of Development Research Vol. 01, Issue, 05, pp. 65679-65681, May, 2024 https://doi.org/10.37118/ijdr.28344.05.2024 Article History: Received 20 th February, 2024 Received in revised form 14 th March, 2024 Accepted 19 th April, 2024 Published online 30 th May, 2024 Available online at http://www.journalijdr.com Citation: Shahid Shafi Rather, 2024. “A cross-sectional study to findout the major etiological factor behind the upsurge and prevalence of copd Cases in Kashmir”. International Journal of Development Research, 14, (05), 65679-65681. RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS Key Words: COPD, Kashmir, Prevelence, Smoking, Respiratory infection’s, Health Education. *Corresponding author: Shahid Shafi Rather,