BTS 25TH ANNIVERSARY

COPD past, present and future

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease past, present and future

P M A Calverley¹, J A Wedzicha²

¹ Division of Infection and Immunity, Clinical Sciences Centre, University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, UK
² Academic Unit of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, UK

Correspondence to:
Professor J A Wedzicha, Academic Unit of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Free and University College Medical School, Hampstead Campus, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK; j.a.wedzicha@medsch.ucl.ac.uk

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Progress in the understanding of COPD

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The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a topic of clinical concern and active research that is strongly represented at the meetings of the British Thoracic Society and in Thorax. This has not always been the case and, for rather different reasons, this disease may not be as important in future decades because the impact of COPD—at least in the developing world—should finally diminish over the next 20 years. This reflects the demographics of smoking cessation and the availability of more effective treatments to reduce the impact of this condition. The problems with COPD are not as current as is often stated. Necropsy data from the late 18th century identified the pathological features of emphysema while the clinical associations of this condition were described by René Laennec in his treaties on diseases of the chest in 1819. However, the slow pace of the illness and . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Wedzicha, J. A, Johnston, S. L (2008). Thorax update: October 2007-September 2008. Thorax 63: 1036-1037 [Full Text]