Tailored treatment improves COPD management
An accurate diagnosis and knowledge of appropriate non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapies are vital to successful COPD management.
Primary care physicians can devise an integrated treatment plan based on recommendations on how to manage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and tailor treatment to their individual patient's needs.
Effective management of COPD begins with an accurate diagnosis. Primary care physicians should consider COPD in all long-term smokers with shortness of breath or dyspnea, as well as in smokers with cardiovascular disease, Barbara Yawn MD, adjunct professor of family and community health at the University of Minnesota, recently told Medical Economics.
“When primary care physicians see patients who are short of breath, they usually think heart disease. I want them to think heart disease and lung disease, especially if the patient is a current or former smoker,” said Yawn. “If the patient has heart disease, still consider spirometry, an objective test for COPD.”
Spirometry is the best method for diagnosing COPD and distinguishing between COPD, asthma and cardiovascular diseases. Airway obstruction is fully reversible in asthma, but not in COPD, and can be confirmed when the post-bronchodilator ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second to forced vital capacity is <0.7.
Once the diagnosis of COPD is confirmed, appropriate management includes both non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapy. Non-pharmacological therapy begins with smoking cessation methods.
“Patients may not be ready to quit smoking yet, but keep offering it,” she said.