title: [When to consider COPD and how to assess it?].
abstract: Detected in 30% of COPD patients and underdiagnosed, COPD must be systematically investigated in all about 40 years-old smokers, without waiting for clinical symptoms, late and inconstant. The diagnosis is made with spirometry. Search for a status of "frequent exacerbations", co-morbidities (including cardio-vascular disease), evaluation of dyspnea intensity with a scale (MRC), assessment of disease impact on daily life, allow to identify risk groups and to target the therapeutic management overall. Pulmonary rehabilitation, in addition to medication, improves dyspnea, and decreases the impact of COPD on daily life.
authors.affiliation: * Service de pneumologie et d'immuno-allergologie, hôpital Calmette, CHRU, 59037 Lille, France. isabelle.tillie@chru-lille.fr
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tillie-Leblond
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires