Chronic lung disease

I have never heard of chronic lung disease until I read the information of Atrial Fibrillation, which avaliable and published at Heart Center of The Rockies Poudre Valley Health System office.  It claimed that chronic lung disease is one of the root cause of Atrial Fibrillation.  I was courteously about this topic and decided to learn more on it.  Especially, what the root causes, symptom and treatments of this disease are. How to prevent it.  Can a patient survive? if so what are chances of this happen?

Many papers were published and discussed on this topic, therefore, I would only provide a summary of this disease.  Causes are: damaged airways that prevent the healthy exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the lungs, lung injuried, the tissues inside the lungs become inflamed and can break down to form a scar. this scar would make difficulty breathing and require more oxygen.  Symptom are shortness of breath during physical activities and chronic cough for three months if the patitent is smoke. These symptoms were not showed until significant lung damaged and unable to reversed.  Sadly, there is no cure for this disease.  However, there are few medications could help patient breathing better. Steps to prevent are: avoid breathing toxic fumes from chemicals, solvents, and paint, wear protection mask when you work with chemical, and don't smoke. I could not find any information on survive of this disease. Picture of lung that helped or gave me a better understand of the disease.