Your asthma or COPD could be a serious hereditary disease called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, also called Alpha-1, A1AD or AATD is a common serious hereditary disorder and can result in life-threatening lung, liver or skin disease. Knowing that you have Alpha-1 opens up many lifestyle and treatment decisions as well as the knowledge to avoid risk factors, all of which can improve your quality of life.

Everyone’s liver produces Alpha-1 Antitrypsin (AAT). The job of AAT is to protect the body from inflammation, especially in the lungs. In people with Alpha-1, their AAT is malformed and cannot be released by their liver. Most commonly this leads to lung disease but the build-up of AAT in the liver can also lead to liver disease and rarely a form of panniculitis, a skin disease.

While it is important to know that not everyone who has Alpha-1 will develop symptoms, even people who are ‘only carriers’ can develop symptoms. We do know that early detection, treatment and lifestyle changes can make a dramatic difference in the progress of the disease.

As a result, the sooner a diagnosis is made the more effective lifestyle and treatment options will be.