Weather experts and doctors are warning that this week poses special dangers for sufferers of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD. Many do not even know that they have COPD.

Not many have heard about COPD. It causes more deaths per year than breast, colon or prostate cancer.

Figures compiled by scientists at the Met office show there is a rise in patients coming in hospitals and hospital admissions in the last week of the year.

Patients with COPD struggle to breathe due to their lungs partially blocked. The worse is that due to damage to the tissues they are unable to process oxygen properly.

The most common cause of the damage is smoking. However exposure to harmful air pollution, fumes and particles or inheriting a genetic deficiency can also lead to COPD.

Dr John Moore-Gillon, a lung specialist at The London Chest Hospital said, "Getting the diagnosis is vital. That can be done with a simple breathing test at your GP's surgery. Once we have the diagnosis we can try to stop things getting worse, and that usually means stopping smoking.”