Here's the deal on the progressive part. Everyone loses lung function beginning somewhere around age 25, and we know about how much a normal person loses every year. When you have a PFT or spirometry, your FEV1 is compared to that of a normal person you height, weight, age, sex and ethnicity. That's where the percentage comes in: what you blew compared to what a normal person would blow, in liters. A person with COPD will lose lung function much faster than someone who doesn't have lung disease. Once you quit polluting your lungs, then you still lose lung function, but at the same rate as the normal person. So, for instance, my lung function was in the mid-30s in 2000 when I was first diagnosed, and it hasn't changed in terms of the percentage. HOWEVER, every year I've lost the same amount of lung function that normal person lost, so that's the progressive part. Every year the amount that I can blow out has gone down, just as much as the normal person. No more, but no less, either. I hope this explanation helps.

It's a pretty slow progression, especially in the early stages. I feel it seems quicker later, as the loss of a further 1% lung function say, feels relatively more when already down to perhaps 25%. My bet is it varies a lot according to genetics, history, lifestyle and environment.
Doctors use spirometry, oxygen saturation at rest, body mass index, and 6 minute walk test to determine prognosis, so ask your pulmonologist , but dont count on a straight answer.😊🍀

I have emphysema, also, diagnosed 2 years ago. Once I quit smoking, and after my hospitalization for pneumonia, I adapted a really healthy life style with exercise, etc., and made a huge difference. I am 75 and feel the best I have felt in years. Had an exasperation (my first) last month, caught it very early and my doctor was amazed how fast I rebounded. Good luck, it is up to you how you deal with it.

I grew up in a house that had hot air vents all the pipes were asbestos and have been removed now but I lived in tht house 28 years! My dad died of copd and I have it now too! Just wondering if tht could be a factor.

I agree with DebbieBill because emphysema differs from situation to situation. I was diagnosed roughly sixteen years ago. It did cause me to move out of the polluted city to the fresh countryside air where I have been for twelve years. Only recently (3 months ago) did I experience a COPD exacerbation which really crippled my style. See your doctor and ask him/her.