Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Focus on Early Diagnosis

The number of deaths in the United States from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has nearly doubled in the last 30 years, making this disease the fourth leading cause of death.(1) Because the number of deaths will continue to increase, COPD is expected to become the third leading cause of death by 2020.(2) About 6% of the U.S. population has been given a diagnosis of COPD by a physician.(3,4) Even though this proportion is alarmingly high, it is thought to represent only half of those with evidence of impaired lung function.(5)