Definitions and Diagnosis of COPD: State of the Art

Sachin Ananth, John R. Hurst

European Respiratory Journal 2023; DOI: 10.1183/13993003.02318-2022

Extract

With high prevalence and high burden, the condition we call ‘chronic obstructive pulmonary disease’ (COPD) is not so much a respiratory concern as a public-health epidemic [1]. This is particularly true in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where most cases remain undiagnosed and untreated. With recent changes to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) definition of COPD [2], and publication of the Lancet Commission on COPD [1], we review current state-of-the-art in relation to COPD definition and diagnosis, and why remaining inconsistencies matter.

Footnotes

This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.

Conflict of interest: John Hurst reports consulting fees from Astra Zeneca, GSK; lecture honoraria from Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, Takeda; travel support and advisory board membership with Astra Zeneca; donation of oximeters from Nonin; outside the submitted work.

Conflict of interest: Sachin Ananth has no disclosures.