Medical Professionals

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is one of the nation’s largest health care concerns and continues to worsen. By 2020, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute estimates it will be the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S.1 The disease is also severely underdiagnosed and undertreated in the U.S., demonstrated by the 12 million undiagnosed Americans living with COPD today1. It is important for all medical professionals who see individuals with COPD in their practices to understand the diagnosis and management of COPD so that patients can receive proper care, and the whole patient is cared for.

In this section of the website, you’ll find information pertaining to the diagnosis and treatment of COPD including the official guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of COPD, research updates, professional educational credit-earning opportunities, and resources for your patients.

Testing and Diagnosis: Here you’ll find information on the uses of spirometry to diagnose your symptomatic patients, guidelines for disease management, treating comorbidities, and information about a recent survey of primary care practitioners and their current practices for diagnosis and managing COPD.

COPD Management Guidelines: Provided for your reference are links to online documents of the American Thoracic Society (ATS), European Respiratory Society (ERS), Global Initiative for Chronic Lung Disease (GOLD), and American College of Physician Guidelines (ACP).

Continuing Medical Education: Several programs and workshops have been sponsored and co-sponsored by the COPD Foundation in an effort to reduce the knowledge gap among primary care physicians and other healthcare professionals about COPD diagnosis and management. Workshops, CME courses, and other events are continuously hosted throughout the year. Find out more about past and future on-site or webcast events in this section.

Links: This section contains links both on and off site where you can find information to distribute to your patients, and additional resources for your own use.


1 Statistics from National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey: Research for the 1995-2004 redesign. Hyattsville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, NCHS. Vital and Health Stat 2(126), 1999. Last accessed 3/18/08.