COPD in Primary Care

1 COPD is a common and important respiratory disorder that causes considerable morbidity and patient suffering.

2 It comprises a spectrum of diseases, including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, long-standing asthma that is no longer reversible and small airways disease.

3 COPD is a chronic, slowly progressive disorder characterised by airflow obstruction that varies very little from month to month.

4 The main cause of COPD is cigarette smoking.

5 COPD is more common in men and with increasing age.The prevalence is 2% of men aged 45–65 and 7% of men over 75 years. Some 32,000 people die from COPD each year in the UK.

6 It results in a large economic burden to the nation in excess of £800 million per year for health care.

7 The symptoms of breathlessness and coughing increasingly affect levels of activity, work, lifestyle and social interaction.

8 The first set of British clinical guidelines was published by the British Thoracic Society in 1997. Much new therapy and clinical information has appeared since then, and new evidence-based guidelines have thus been compiled by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and were published in February 2004 to update knowledge and best management.The new material comprises Chapter 11.