COPD awareness key for primary care physicians
More awareness of COPD by primary care physicians can lead to early treatment and better care for this growing group of patients.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has become a substantial part of all adult primary care practices. If a primary care physician sees 20 to 40 adults a day, one to four of those patients will have COPD, and half of them will have unrecognized COPD, according to statistics from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
An estimated 15 million Americans suffer from COPD, but with early diagnosis and treatment they can improve their quality of life and begin to breathe a little easier.
November is National COPD Awareness Month, an internationally-recognized event held annually to enhance exposure around COPD. Multiple organizations, including the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI), the COPD Foundation and the American Lung Association (ALA) are sponsoring events to raise awareness about COPD and to provide patients and physicians with resources on COPD.
“There are some hints in data from large, recent studies that treatment can slow lung function decline in COPD, particularly early in disease,” MeiLan Han MD, associate professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at the University of Michigan and spokesperson for the ALA tells Medical Economics. “Primary care physicians need to start appropriate medications, keep patients physically active through programs like pulmonary rehabilitation, and instill lifestyle changes, such as smoking cessation.”
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