Despite the establishment of evidence-based guidelines and greater awareness, the worldwide prevalence of COPD continues to grow. Its worsening burden calls for the critical evaluation of interventions to diagnose the disease, manage its symptoms, and prevent exacerbations—so we can break its destructive cycle.
As we learned from the 2018 International COPD Conference, much of this effort comes from managing it proactively at 3 key points along the treatment journey: PCP care, pulmonologist care, and discharge.
Let’s take a closer look at each.