Areas for action

Prevention

  • Strategies need to be actively employed to prevent people from starting to smoke or to help smokers to quit.

Treatment

  • Higher standards of COPD care need to be established, as do studies on the effectiveness of current prevention, education, medication and rehabilitation.

  • Pulmonary rehabilitation has been shown to be effective and needs to become widely available.

  • Caregivers and patients need to be guided in the most efficient and effective ways to manage COPD.

Research

  • Further studies on the most effective smoking cessation intervention and techniques are required.

  • Further research on the influence of genetic factors, exacerbations, natural history, deaths and cost is required to combat the increasing health and economic burden of COPD.

  • Long-term epidemiological studies of the frequency of, and mortality from, COPD are needed in all European countries.

Learn about the ERS COPD audit, a European programme which aims to improve the overall standard of care for people with COPD.

Link to EvA
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