[Do we define the COPD correctly?].
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a very common disease which prevalence is increasing and in a nearly future it will represent a socio-sanitary problem. This article s objective is to make a reflexion about the concept COPD, for the physicians contribute to their divulgation to the population and very specially to help to the tobacco desertion. Besides we want to reveal that the term has been well-finished due to the advance in the knowledge of aetiology, physiopathology, and radiology techniques. Although, we think that the acronym still includes entities with a very different features. We hope to clarify this concept in the future, establishing different phenotypes and mainly with molecular biology.
de la Fuente Cid
R
R
Servicios de Medicina Interna, Complejo Hospitalario de Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña. ramondfc@yahoo.es
González Barcala
F J
FJ
Pose Reino
A
A
Valdés Cudrado
L
L
D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D015995:Prevalence; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009626:Terminology as Topic