Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is growing in reocnition as a major chronic disease, and a key cause of acute medical admissions. It kills approximately 30,000 patients each year in England and Wales alone, and is set to be the third commonest cause of death by 2020 globally.
This pocketbook is a concise companion for all health care professionals who come into contact with patients wtih COPD. It covers the full spectrum of COPD management, ranging from smoking cessation to advanced COPD, bridging both the primary and secondary care aspects of treatment and discussing the latest advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology and new drug treatments of this disease. This compact volume of the Oxford Respiratory Medicine Library summarizes up-to-date literature in a style that will have direct clinical application to busy health care professionals.