Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
9385716 | Respiratory Medicine | 2005 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
One-third of patients had never been diagnosed and treated even though 83% of them had moderate-to-very-severe COPD and about 30% already had respiratory failure. Only 20% had received information on the nature of the disease and none had received a written action plan. Only 60% were receiving long-acting bronchodilators and 41% of patients with respiratory failure were receiving long-term oxygen. A substantial number of undiagnosed and untreated patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD came to our attention through an exacerbation. This enforces the importance of exacerbations as the starting point of pro-active COPD management and of the ED as a valuable sentinel to identify this subset of patients.
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Authors
Maria C. Zoia, Angelo G. Corsico, Massimiliano Beccaria, Roberta Guarnone, Gabriella Cervio, Renato Testi, Maria A. Bressan, Ernesto Pozzi, Isa Cerveri,